The Badger Resistance
by Nights Mistress
Summary: The sixth year Hufflepuffs are not particularly impressed by Harry Potter or his DA. So, they decide to form their own study group, reasoning that they would learn more. As politics starts to interfere with Susan Bones' life, the Badgers are left with a d
1. Default Chapter

It was the first Wednesday of the school year and Justin Finch-Fletchley, sixth year Hufflepuff and ladies man (or so he would like to think) was somewhat unimpressed. Leaning back in his uncomfortable wooden chair, he glanced at the other sixth year Badgers and marvelled at the identical expressions of boredom. Although, it was to be expected. It was the first DA meeting for the year and instead of allowing them to practise defending themselves against the Dark Arts, which is what everyone _thought_ they were signing up for, Harry Potter was subjecting them to a poorly phrased diatribe about Lord Voldemort's progress across on the mainland. It might have been impressive, had the five of them not slept over Susan's Aunt Amelia's house for a couple of nights during the summer holidays and gotten the complete and uncensored truth from her. Unfortunately, they now had to suffer through Potter's rehashing of the Daily Prophet's propaganda. So, in a desperate attempt to keep themselves awake, the Hufflepuffs were doing what they did best - making snide remarks about their classmates.

"See, I told you! I told you he was useless!" Zacharias crowed, triumphant expression on his face. "Remind me again, why do I come to these sessions anyway?" Susan nodded in the direction of Hermione Granger, who was staring at Zacharias fiercely, a malicious smile playing on her lips. Zacharias glanced over his shoulder, caught her eye and waved jauntily. Hermione's face darkened in response. Zacharias smirked at her and returned his gaze back to the coterie. Susan kept a wary eye on Hermione, only ceasing when Hermione shifted her Medusa-stare onto Luna Lovegood, who was attempting to charm Kevin Entwhistle's hair green. Looking around the room with a practiced eye, Justin noted that Terry Boot and Padma Patil were all over each other, their studious intensity suggesting that they had learnt it from a textbook - which they probably had. Michael Corner was busy with his pixie-faced girlfriend who had vacuous giggles and vacant expressions down to an art and Ginny Weasley was sleeping on Natalie McDonald's shoulder. It really made you wonder why Hermione was so intent on staring Zacharias down. Justin thought it was a bloody stupid idea; Zacharias was too arrogant for it to work and he was one of the more behaved ones tonight. However, it was pointless trying to tell Hermione that. She'd probably fix him with that stare and ask what he knew about it. While it might be tempting to reply "Well, I _have_ shared a room with him for five years," that would lead to more work - something that Justin would avoid wherever possible.

"Initially you came along because you wanted to pass your Defence Owl," Justin replied, arms folded and half-listening to the diatribe that Harry was delivering. "And then your masochistic tendencies came to the fore. You know you secretly love being threatened." He repressed a grin when Harry mentioned that Voldemort had been out to get him ever since Voldemort had been a teenager. Confusing sentence structure aside, if this was true, why had the basilisk taken so long to off him? Justin hadn't particularly liked being petrified, it was rather boring. No-one would talk to him for one, and for someone who lived for gossip, that was probably the worst part of the whole experience.

"Beats being treated as if I'm a moron because I was good enough to be a Badger," Zacharias retorted. The others sighed. They'd tried to explain to Zacharias that while drawing attention to yourself was a good thing, if done in moderation, positive attention was preferable to the negative that he received. Unfortunately, Zacharias never seemed to see it this way, and there were many hushed discussions about whether he was going to end up the same way as Cedric Diggory - discussions that often led to Hannah dissolving in tears.

"Why don't we just leave?" Ernie asked. "I've better things to do than listen to Potter rant about how evil the Dark Lord is. We already know that, we can read." Hannah glanced up from her transfiguration text and made a face.

"Because we don't want people to think we're traitors to the side of light or something?" she asked dryly. "After all, we were sorted into Hufflepuff for loyalty, so of course we're traitors." Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown giggled, probably at something Harry said, although the possibility that they did it simply to release some of the gas in their heads was equally valid. Hannah and Susan allowed themselves a sneer at the Gryffindors' flighty ways before returning their attention to the conversation.

"Ah, but no-one asked _where_ we place our loyalties!" Zacharias pointed out. "For all they know," the 'they' done with the appropriate sneer, "we could be loyal Death Eaters, intent on destroying Hogwarts from the inside." Justin resisted the urge to pull a face at the sheer bad taste of Zacharias' joke.

"Except for you, me and Susan," he pointed out instead. " 'Cause Voldemort's big on the purity of blood thing and none of us meet it, except for Ernie and Hannah." He flashed a grin at them. "Is there something you need to tell us, oh honoured prefects?" Ernie looked scandalised at this, while Hannah merely rolled her eyes.

"Didn't you know, J? I'm really Delilah Malfoy and I bathe in the blood of muggles every week," she replied with a straight face. Susan dissolved into giggles.

"Certainly explains the state of the bathroom after you've finished with it," she explained after composing herself. The boys looked intrigued at this, given that they had never seen the girls' section of the Hufflepuff wing. Of course, the girls had never seen the boys' section either, Helga being much more astute to the ways of adolescents than, say, Godric.

"Would you lot be quiet?" Harry demanded, his aggravated tone cutting through their conversation. Zacharias made to get out of his chair and do something that he would regret later when Justin, ever quicker with his wand than the others, petrified him and smiled apologetically at Harry, Hermione and Ron. Or, the Unholy Trio - a moniker bestowed upon them by Ernie during the unmemorable Umbitch's Left Party. The Hufflepuffs suspected that it would have been quite the memorable party, had they not drunken so much. Professor Sprout had turned a blind eye to their excesses, reasoning that it was a weekend and after a year of Umbridge, they deserved a celebration. Justin remembered vividly the trapped rage in her eyes when Zacharias, the third student in as many days, stumbled back into the common room, blood dripping almost soundlessly onto the stone tiles from the 'I will be silent' carved into his left hand. Justin had always suspected that Professor Sprout had more influence on Umbridge's departure than what she let on.

"We'll keep it down," Hannah promised, her face schooled to eager interest. This was so obvious a lie that the Badgers were skeptical of the likeliness of Harry believing it. As such, they were astounded when he accepted Hannah's words and expression at face value and returned to his rant.

Ernie eyed the petrified Zacharias spectulatively, narrowing his eyes in thought. He reached out a hand and tapped Zacharias on the forehead, grinning when there was no response.

"Seems a pity to change him back," he commented. Hannah sighed and Justin flicked his wand, his lips moving soundlessly. Ernie found his wrist caught firmly by Zacharias, who was glaring at him. "Why'd you do that for?" Ernie wailed.

"Because he knew how pissed I'd be when he took the spell off?" Zacharias offered. "Christ, Ernie, how stupid are you? No, don't answer that, it was a rhetorical question." Ernie closed his mouth and glared at Zacharias, who grinned quickly and stared back. He had always enjoyed a good staring session, or so Justin had found.

Tragically, the session was broken up by Harry. As usual. There were a number of rumours attempting to explain why he was the moody, temperamental bastard that he was, most of them generated by the rumour mill of Justin and Hannah. Although, it must be said that it was Susan who suggested that it was the realisation that he would never get any that sparked it. This rumour was the current favourite, something that annoyed Justin no end. Rumours were no fun if they were true.

"What do you two think you're doing?" Harry snapped. Ernie blinked in surprise, which ended the staring match. Zacharias, who had deliberately set his back to Harry at the beginning of the session, craned his head to the front of the room and burst out laughing at the sight of Harry, standing on a stage to compensate for his lack of height.

"We're planning the death or destruction of everyone not loyal to Hufflepuff," Ernie retorted. "What do you think we're doing, Potter?" Justin applauded. It was about time that Ernie started expressing that latent anger, and he couldn't think of a better target than someone who was interfering with his sleep. They watched in interest as Harry's face turned purple. Susan, seemingly struck by inspiration, whipped out a notepad and started to sketch something quickly with her pen. She nodded in satisfaction when she was done and showed it to the rest of the group, who snickered appreciatively.

"Right," Harry snarled. "Because the Hufflepuffs seem even _less_ capable of rational thought than normal, I think we'll end this meeting." Justin felt his jaw drop open and a quick glance around the group indicated that he was not alone in his outrage. Harry Potter had just insulted the badger. The room emptied remarkably quickly, considering how many people were in it beforehand, leaving the fuming Badgers alone.

"Well, that was a cock-up," Zacharias commented finally. "Why do we go again?"

"No idea," Justin replied. "It's not as if we learn anything here that we can't find in a book." Amidst groans from Hannah and Susan about reading _more_ books, Justin continued. "No, seriously. We could have our own sessions in the common room. Sod this for a lark, we could actually _learn_ something. Or, better yet, we could get Professor Sprout to lift the spells around either of the dorms and we could do it in there. Probably ours, more space. Anyone?"

"But what if Potter knows something we don't?" Ernie asked. Hannah snorted inelegantly.

"Potter doesn't know a thing. It's all Granger's knowledge that he's using, and if a group of five Badgers can't beat one Gryffindor, then maybe we should ask to be re-Sorted." Dubious expressions all around. "Trust me, I got stuck with him for a History of Magic assignment once. 'I'll ask Hermione, she'll know'!" she mimicked. "Merlin forbid that he have an original thought in his head."

"I don't think the degenerate wretch is capable," Zacharias interjected snidely. Justin sighed.

"Look, Zach. We know you don't like him. You don't have to keep reminding us," he replied in the weary tones of someone who had been forced to listen to multitudes of tirades about the unimpressive Harry Potter all too often. "Look, shove over, I want to sit next to Susie." Zacharias obliged with a shrug and Justin forced his chair into the newly-formed gap.

"You know, if you keep harping about him like this, people may get the wrong impression," Susan suggested as she leant on Justin, impish smile on her face. Zacharias looked at her blankly for a moment, then made retching noises, the horrified look on his face sufficient answer. "I take it you aren't harbouring a secret crush on the hysterical Harry Potter then, Zach?" Susan asked innocently. Zacharias stuck his tongue out at Susan.

"I should think not. Standards, you know," he replied archly, leaning back in his chair and resting his forearm on the top. "Even if he were female and better looking, he's not a Hufflepuff, which automatically means that he's lower on the evolutionary ladder than us."

"I don't know," Ernie mused. "That Boot guy's all right." He scowled after saying this and muttered something. Justin suspected that it was something along the lines of 'Die, bitch, die.' It was always amusing when Ernie got possessive about his crush.

"Ernie, darling," Hannah commiserated. "He's straight. He's going out with Padma Patil. Surely you knew this?" Ernie's scowl deepened. "At least you're not crushing on a Gryffindor or a Slytherin. What you need is a nice Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw boyfriend." Justin shook his head emphatically when Hanah looked at him pointedly and from the movement he caught at the corner of his eye, he suspected that Zacharias was doing likewise. "Maybe a Ravenclaw boyfriend. Unless Jason Cavanagh...?" All three boys looked disgusted at the idea.

"He keeps staring at me," Zacharias complained, making a face. "I swear, every time I see him, he's staring at my ass. Even after I told him I wasn't interested. Surely Ernie can do better."

"While Ernie's sex life, or lack thereof is of supreme importance, I'm sure, what about our rival study group?" Justin broke in.

"Like a rebellion?" Zacharias asked eagerly. "Rebelling against the oppressive regime of Potter and his ego?"

"Viva la Resistance!" Ernie chimed in, smiling angelically when Justin glared at him.

"The Badger Resistance?" Hannah suggested. The others shrugged. "Yes, I know, it's not a particularly good name, but it'll do until we think of something better." Susan yawned.

"I don't know about you lot, but I'm going to bed. Can we have our meetings at a slightly more reasonable time than at 10pm on a Wednesday? I've got Arithmancy first up and I'll be damned before I let Granger beat me again," Susan explained. The others nodded sympathetically. They all knew about Susan's love for the subject and her frustration when she missed out of being top of the year by only two marks was legendary.

"Yeah, I've got practice tomorrow morning, then Ancient Runes," Zacharias added. "If I don't top it this year, don't come looking for me, because I'm drowning myself in the Lake." Justin rolled his eyes at Zacharias' melodramatics.

"Promise?" he asked, and was hit with a screwed up piece of paper for his efforts. Zacharias smirked at his outraged expression. Justin glared back, eyes narrowed. It looked to be yet another fight, until Hannah and Susan took matters into their own hands, and clipped them around the back of their heads with their transfiguration and charms textbooks respectively. Justin shot Susan a hurt look, which she shrugged off.

"Testosterone is all well and good, except this late at night," Hannah preached from behind Justin. "I've got better things to do than write up your detentions."

"Yeah, like meet up with _Tony_?" Justin teased. "What do you see in him anyway?"

"He's obviously better than you," Zacharias retorted good-naturedly. "The question is, why am I still single? I mean, look at me! Am I not the sexiest piece of man-flesh you've ever seen?" Hannah snorted and Zacharias looked crestfallen.

"You're better than Malfoy," Susan offered in condolence. "Then again, Snape is better than Malfoy and oh yuck! Bad mental image!"

"We will have to execute you at dawn for subjecting us to such torment," Ernie pronounced solemnly. "Or demand that you are reSorted into Slytherin." The group shuddered at such a dire fate.

"That's a bit harsh," Justin protested mildly, slinging an arm around Susan. Ernie shrugged.

"She suggested that Snape was vaguely attractive," he reasoned. "Therefore either she is Malfoy or one of his cronies using Polyjuice or mentally unstable. Either or, she belongs in Slytherin." Zacharias lobbed a ball of paper at him.

"So, we're forming our own study group?" he asked while Ernie scowled darkly at him. "Right, I'm off. Summerby's decided that of course we don't need to sleep and that we _love_ practices that begin before dawn. So either I go now, or I'm falling asleep in Potions. Which is so wrong when you think about it." He stood up, went pale and pushed himself upright using the chair. After blinking vigourously for a minute, he tentatively removed his hand.

"Spin out," he offered in way of explanation. "But hey, I didn't faint this time. Go me!" Justin was unimpressed. "Hey, I didn't ask to be this tall!" Zacharias complained. Justin shrugged unsympathetically. If Zacharias had the nerve to be a head taller than him, then it was his own problem. "Fine," Zacharias huffed and left.

"He wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the arrogance," Hannah mused as the door slammed shut behind him. Susan smiled enigmatically. Ernie, upon seeing this, groaned loudly.

"Don't tell me that our next project is getting Zach a steady girlfriend? Getting him laid may be a better goal," he drawled. "Although, I don't get it. He's a Quidditch player, shouldn't he have fangirls or something?"

"I thought our project was the Badger Resistance...?" Justin asked plaintively. Susan patted him on the head, frowning slightly as her hand was caught on his tight curls. Justin reached up and disentangled her hand with the ease of long practice.

"We can do both," Susan soothed. "After all, if we saddle him with a nice, tame Ravenclaw girlfriend, she can deal with his melodramatics, while we get the AR genius. It all works out." Justin nodded thoughtfully. It would be nice to foist Zacharias onto someone else when he was having a temper tantrum, brooding or generally being his usual volatile self. He could see Ernie frown slightly, then nod. Chances were, he was remembering Zacharias' latest spat as well. Yesterday afternoon, he had come to dinner fuming about how Hermione had beaten him by a mere half mark on the Ancient Runes Owl. Finally, in a fit of frustration, Ernie poured a silencing potion into Zacharias' juice. The indignant expression was definitely worth it, in Justin's opinion.

"I've got to go!" Hannah exclaimed, looking at her watch wide-eyed. "Transfiguration homework to finish and all. Coming, Susan?" Susan climbed off Justin and waved jauntily at the two boys.

"You two staying?" she asked innocently. "After all, we wouldn't want those rumours to be false now, would we?" Justin went incandescently red while Ernie merely looked intrigued and asked for details. Justin choked at this and Susan grinned.

"Good night, gentlemen," she teased and waltzed out of the room with Hannah. Ernie absently smacked Justin on the back a few times.

"When're you going to ask her out?" Ernie asked once Justin resumed a normal breathing pattern. Justin stared at him blankly. "You know, Susan. She's totally into you." Justin flushed and mumbled something at his feet. "What?"

"I'm going to bed," Justin said abruptly. "You can stay here if you like, but I imagine it would get rather boring." Ernie stood up and waited patiently for Justin to pick up his school bag. Slinging it over his shoulder, Justin stood up and the remaining two Hufflepuffs left the Room of Requirement.

A few minutes after they left, a rather woebegone House Elf staggered in, a bottle of butterbeer in one hand and a teatowel in the other. She threw up gracelessly on the floor and passed out - a nice surprise for the next person to use the room.

***

The next day, Justin blearily opened his eyes to Zacharias throwing his shin guards across the room. He squinted and rubbed his eyes as Zacharias unlaced his wrist guards and threw them in the opposite direction to the shin guards. This achieved, Zacharias stormed over to his bed and slammed the curtains shut. Justin winced. After second year, Professor Sprout had put silencing charms on the curtains, mainly because Justin used to keep his dorm-mates awake with screaming nightmares about the basilisk. Zacharias must be really angry, as normally he just vented his anger at whomever. Justin shrugged and went back to sleep. If it was really important, someone would tell him later.

A pillow to the face later, Justin reopened his eyes to Ernie staring down at him. Justin stared back as best he could, given that his eyes weren't focusing yet.

"Where's Zach?" Ernie asked. Justin nodded at the closed curtains to his right. "First place I looked. He's not there." Justin groaned and pushed himself upright. Rubbing at his eyes, he glanced around the room, noting the wreckage of Cyclone Zacharias.

"He came in from practice in a bit of a snit," he offered. Ernie moaned. The last time Zacharias has been in a 'bit of a snit', the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain ended up with a black eye. They'd lost fifty points for that little escapade.

"Look, give me a minute and I'll help you look for him," Justin offered. Not waiting for a answer, Justin grabbed the nearest clean school uniform and shut the curtains. A few minutes later, he had everything on except the tie and shoes. The shoes were a problem easily solved, as they were under his bed, but the tie posed an entirely more difficult conundrum. Outside he could hear Ernie tapping his foot impatiently and Justin gave up on the tie and opened the curtains. Reaching under his bed, he grabbed his shoes and shoved them onto his feet, not even undoing the laces beforehand. Justin never untied his laces before taking his shoes off. The last time he actually tied his shoelaces was the day he boarded the Hogwarts Express, and that was only because his mother was watching. Straightening up, he scowled at his tie, made an approximation of a Windsor knot and stood up.

"Right, let's find our errant dorm-mate," he suggested. Pushing past Ernie, he shoved the door open and promptly tripped over Ernie's discarded shoes. Catching himself on the handrail, he shot a death glare at Ernie, who didn't even have the grace to look embarrassed. Tossing the shoes over one shoulder, Justin clattered down the staircase, only to run into Zacharias, who steadied him while shaking his head in bemusement.

"It's a blind corner, you idiot," Zacharias pointed out. "Five years of running into people and you still haven't worked it out yet?" Justin gaped at him. "What?"

"I thought, I mean, we thought, we being Ernie and I, well, we thought you'd gone and done something stupid again," Justin stammered. "So we went looking for you and yeah. Where were you, anyway?"

"Professor Sprout," Zacharias replied in tones of great confusion. He frowned in bewilderment. "Arranging for the wards to be lifted from the girls' dorm next Tuesday night. Why?"

"You stormed in the dorm, tossed your Quidditch gear around and stormed out again," Ernie pointed out reasonably. "So naturally we thought that you were going to do something stupid again, like deck the Ravenclaw captain." Zacharias flushed at this reminder.

"No, I haven't. Tempting, though. The Gryffs invaded the pitch. Again," he replied in tones of great disgust. "I'm sure it's all very brave to steal the pitch from the team that had _rightfully_ claimed it, by crossing out Summerby's signature and putting Potter's there instead. So I spoke to Professor Sprout about our study group and she says it's fine as long as we finish before 10pm. Which is easy enough." He shrugged. "This is more satisfying than decking Potter anytime. I can't wait to see his face when we tell him where to go next meeting."

"So, it's a goer? You told the girls?" Ernie broke in. Zacharias nodded. "Viva la Resistance!"

"Could you stop saying that?" Justin asked. "It's getting repetitive."

***

The first meeting of the Badger Resistance was a bit of a shambles. It wasn't entirely their fault, as Professor Sprout had forgotten to lift the wards, and as such, the boys found themselves thrown against the far wall of the common room. The younger children cheered at this, as the wards had not been tested that year. They picked themselves up with as much dignity as they could muster, given that they had just been thrown across a room, brushed themselves off and went to whinge to Professor Sprout.

"You said you would lift the wards!" Justin complained. 'But you didn't and that hurt!" He rubbed surreptitiously at his bruises and glared at the other two, daring them to say something. Ernie looked as if he was going to say something, but a quick glance at Zacharias' set face stopped that line of thought. Professor Sprout sighed in exasperation and flicked her wand at the trio.

"There you are. You three can bypass the wards. For tonight and only you three. No negotiation, no sneaking back after 10pm and no staying past 10pm. Got it?" The boys nodded. "Off with you then."

Once that particular barrier was overcome, there was the more difficult task of actually finding the correct room. This was more tricky then it sounded because the boys had never been in this section of the castle, although not for lack of trying on Justin and Zacharias' part. They stared at the seven doors on various levels, all identical and no clue as to which was the right one. Ernie, the only one whose brain was thinking beyond "Now what?", polished his prefect badge on his sleeve, pinned it prominently on his robes and rapped sharply on the door. A tiny girl with a cloud of dark hair opened the door, her eyes growing huge as she realised who was there. She squeaked in surprise and attempted to shut the door.

"Rose, I don't care what you're doing in there," Ernie said dryly. "Could you tell me where the sixth year dorms are?" Rose looked visibly relieved at this and pointed at the door up the first flight of stairs. "Thank you," Ernie said solemnly as Rose shut the door. Justin and Zacharias were already part-way up the stairs, so Ernie had to sprint to catch up.

Justin had raised his fist in anticipation of knocking on the doorwhen Hannah opened it. She giggled at his dumbfounded expression and gestured regally for him to enter. Ernie pushed Justin from behind and he stumbled into the room, closely followed by the other two. Susan turned around to face them, her red hair falling into her face. She brushed it away absently and smiled. Justin swallowed and blurted the first thing that came into his head.

"Your hair's down!" Susan frowned slightly and Justin coloured. When he imagined this scene, generally during remarkably boring History of Magic classes, he was suave and charming. Why couldn't real life reflect his imaginings?

"Hey all," Ernie announced. "The first meeting for the Badger Resistance can come to order when J realises that we're waiting for him." Justin flushed again and sat down on the nearest piece of furniture, a bed. He heard a stifled giggle from Hannah as she sat down on the other bed. As the import of that action caught up with Ernie and Zacharias, they burst out laughing. Justin felt very put upon. He glared at them both as they took up postions either on the desk or the floor.

"I was thinking that we should sort out what we couldn't do from last year," Hannah began. "I know that none of us managed a corporeal Patronus, for one."

"Disarming spells," Zacharias added. "I never did find out what was wrong with mine. Not that Potter was any help. I swear his twin goons were doing something, I could hear them sniggering behind me."

"You know you brought that on yourself," Susan chided. Zacharias turned a betrayed expression toward her. "You know you did. What were you thinking, being so tactless with him in front of his goons?" Zacharias muttered something, staring at the ground.

Yes, yes, we know. Zach was being an idiot, but does it really matter? We're quitting tomorrow," Ernie interjected. "And we keep those two separate in classes anyway. So it's all good."

"Just making sure Zach knows he started the DA feud," Susan replied complacently. "Although, they did keep meetings interesting."

"Counter-curses," Hannah interrupted desperately, attempting to return the meeting to it's original objective. Ernie, Susan and Zacharias blinked in bewilderment as they struggled to remember what they were talking about before.

"Things we're going to do this year," Justin explained helpfully. Hannah shot him a grateful look. "And I think we should find more applications to stuff we're taught in class. Like potions and charms and stuff." Susan nodded in agreement.

"I've been meaning to find out how to cast and break defensive wards," Zacharias offered. "There's something that I'm not getting or something, because it never works."

"Ernie needs to economise his movements," Susan added. Ernie looked outraged. "You do! I can disarm you easily because of all those flourishes. Not to mention, it makes you look stupid." Ernie spluttered at this betrayal, while the others, with the exception of Hannah who was almost in tears, were quite amused at the recent turn of events.

"Can we please talk about the Badger Resistance?" Hannah pleaded. "Not about our opinions about certain people! What are we going to learn or practice this semester?"

"Patronuses, disarming spells, counter-curses, the Unforgivables," Justin supplied. At the horror-struck expressions on everyone's face when he suggested the last, he scowled and demanded, "What? It's not as if the Death Eaters won't cast them at us. I'd want to know beforehand whether I can make them work or not." Judging by the open mouths, he hadn't managed to convince them. "Look, let's say it's a choice between them dying or my family and housemates. Guess which one I'm picking."

"I don't know..." Ernie said slowly, his tone dubious and a little disturbed at the sudden show of determination from the normally placid Justin. "They're forbidden for a reason."

"They're taught them over at Durmstrang," Justin retorted stubbornly. "I'm going to learn them. You can if you want - I'm not going to make you. But I'm not going to throw away a method that could keep those I care about alive just because _Fudge_ is scared of them."

"I agree with Justin," Susan added harshly. "They've killed too many Bones already. I won't let them kill another." Her face twisted and she bit down hard on her bottom lip. Justin made to go over and comfort her, but she stared him down. She wouldn't cry. She never did. Something about dishonouring her uncle's memory or something.

"I can't say I like it, but I can see the reason," Hannah commented. "I'll learn, for Ced's sake." Ernie sighed heavily.

"Me too," he added. There was silence. "Zach?" No response. "Could someone wake him up?" Justin, who was closest to Zacharias' position on the floor, kicked him firmly in the ribs. Zacharias started awake, his hand reaching for his wand before his eyes were entirely open. Hannah and Susan stared in awe while Ernie and Justin looked bored. They had seen this before, and it wasn't as impressive anymore. Once Zacharias' eyes were fully open, he blinked in bewilderment at the surroundings.

"We're going to learn the Unforgivables," Justin explained. "You in?" Zacharias rolled his eyes.

"Course!" he replied indignantly. "What do you think I am? No bastard kills off my sister and gets away with it!" Hannah sighed and Justin prepared himself for another lecture about how Hufflepuffs did not avenge themselves on others, even if they did rape then kill your sister. No-one believed it though, not even Hannah herself. Cedric Diggory was her cousin. Justin remembered how fourth year had ended. Hannah had wandered around Hogwarts in a daze, eyes wide and blank, as she drifted from class to class. It was very unnerving, and the other Hufflepuffs worked very hard to keep it from the professors, as they knew she was a Prefect-candidate and there was no way they were going to let a Death Eater keep her from achieving that title. It was for her that Zacharias demanded to know how Cedric died during the first DA meeting. Justin and Ernie understood the sentiment, if not the action. Justin remembered the helpless feeling that trapped him when Hannah, face tear-streaked, asked him why Cedric had died and how. He couldn't answer then, but he was determined to make sure it never happened again. Hannah's tears, Susan's determination not to talk about her uncle, Zacharias' uncharacteristic silences, it all added up to something that Justin didn't like to see. Not in Hufflepuff, which was _supposed_ to be a haven from the outside world. Magic wasn't supposed to be like this, fraught with tension as you watched over your shoulder. It was time for the Hufflepuffs to make their stand and fight for magic to be what it should be, spontaneous and awe-inspiring. Not that Justin ever told anyone that he thought this. Why should he? People would start to wonder about him, and he didn't want to draw attention to himself. That was Zacharias' area.

"We should get back," Ernie prodded, glancing down at his watch. "It's ten to." The other two boys looked down at their watches, blanched and practically raced to the door. "Night, ladies!" Ernie called over his shoulder in the mad rush.

"Night, gentlemen," the girls chorused as the door shut behind the boys, who were too busy racing down the stairs to be quiet. They stepped into the common room at five to and collectively breathed a sigh of relief.

"That went well," Justin commented. Ernie grinned wickedly.

"Viva la-" he began, only to be cut off mid-phrase by a well-timed Silencing spell. Justin smirked from behind his wand.

"I told you not to say that," he told Ernie matter-of-factly. "It's your own fault."


	2. Chapter 2

In an effort to present the facade of docile innocence, the Hufflepuffs had arrived at the Room a few minutes early, before even the most eager of Gryffindors, the Creevey brothers. Taking up their usual positions at the back of the Room, they dragged over additional chairs, reasoning that they needed them more than anyone else did. Ernie snagged two and sprawled across them, attempting to catch up on sleep sacrificed to the Potions homework of Doom. He cracked an eye open as Hannah kicked his chair accidently, shot her a death glare and closed his eyes again. Susan was using one of the chairs as a temporary table as she completed her arithmancy homework, Zacharias was throwing his runes onto the tables and taking very detailed notes as to where they landed - not that Justin understood _why_ this was necessary, Hannah was attempting to transfigure her socks and shoes into quill and parchment - apparently she had forgotten to bring some with her and Justin was staring at it all, wondering whether he could be bothered pulling out his charms homework and starting. He decided against it, reasoning that he had _hours_ before it was due. After all, why destroy a record of five years of completing assignments on the day within the first month of sixth year?

The door creaked open and the Creevey brothers stuck their heads in. They looked crestfallen at the sight of the Hufflepuffs, something that puzzled Justin slightly. It wasn't as if they were going to interfere with either Colin or Dennis' crush on Harry Potter, that would be daft. Colin was nothing if not dedicated, if the shrine devoted to Harry Potter in a disused Charms classroom was anything to go by. Justin didn't know of any girl that would dedicate one entire wall to Harry Potter, wearing only a towel, telling them to get lost - or something of that sentiment anyway. At the time, the sight of the Altar to Harry Potter had disturbed Justin somewhat, however he later saw the amusing side. 

So did everyone but Harry Potter in fact, after Justin had sold some of the more entertaining ones to Witch Weekly a week before Harry's sixteenth birthday. It was a thank-you present for being the target of Voldemort and thus indirectly causing Justin to be petrified for months. Not that he remembered those months with any clarity - they were disjointed and dream-like thankfully otherwise he probably would have gone insane, but it was the principle of the idea. As an additional bonus, Harry was convinced that Draco Malfoy had done it.

Personally, Justin thought those two deserved one another, and hoped idly that one day they'd beat each other to death, doing the world a favour. Unfortunately, it didn't seem likely and as such, Hogwarts would have to suffer their juvenile insults. Every so often, Susan mused over the relative advantages of teaching either one how to insult people Hufflepuff-style, but they managed to talk her out of it. Neither would appreciate the subtleties or the levels of complexity involved in Hufflepuffian methods of insulting. Ernie was easily the best at it, his off-hand comments deliberately ambigious to the point that the subject of discussion wasn't entirely sure if they had been complimented or insulted. The rest of them were adept to a certain extent, except for Zacharias, who managed to insult people whether he meant it or not. It was almost a talent, his inability to grasp how to insult people correctly.

The door opened again, letting in the Ravenclaw contingent. Evidently Boot and Patil had had a fight, he was looking resolutely in front of him while Padma glared at him, arms folded. Justin shrugged and mentally recorded it for the rumour mill later. Michael was busy with his girlfriend again, blithely ignoring Kevin's jealous stares at either Michael or Lisa - it was hard to tell. Luna drifted in dreamily in the backwash and Justin's eyes narrowed. No-one was that oblivious. No-one. While there was talk that her otherworldly nature was a result of too much inbreeding, Justin suspected that it was merely an act. Of course, he could just be paranoid, as she kept electrifying his hair last year during the disarming spell practice. He kept giving people electric shocks for weeks afterwards. It was very frustrating, accidentally electrifying his cutlery. Ernie kept suggesting that they use him as a new source of energy, like the Muggle 'ekelticly.' Justin would sigh and correct him, but Ernie persisted in mispronouncing the word, refusing to believe him, never mind that as a Muggle-born, Justin would have a better idea than the majority of the school as to how to pronounce it. Eventually the electric charge around him died away, something that Justin was eternally grateful for. It would have been all right had he been able to shoot electricity out of his fingers like Emperor Palpatine, but merely shocking people just wasn't as cool.

Finally the Gryffindor mob arrived, with the Unholy trio of Harry, Hermione and Ron making up the rear. The Trio stared pointedly at the Badgers, who kept their faces blank. Once they had turned away, the Hufflepuffs exchanged malicious grins. This was going to be fun.

"Hey all," Harry began. "We've been doing some thinking, me, Ron and Hermione, and we thought that maybe we should start mixing up the houses. Like the Hat said last year." Ernie pushed himself upright, his chairs scraping loudly across the stone floor. As an attention-drawing ploy, it was executed flawlessly, with all of the attention being rediverted to their position at the back. Harry looked disgruntled that he wasn't the focus point any more. "Yes, Ernie?" he queried.

"We've been doing some thinking as well," Ernie replied, deliberately mimicking Harry's choice of words and intonation. "And quite frankly, we've decided that you can go screw yourselves. We quit." At that moment, Justin wished that he had a pensieve, in order to record Potter's expression at this statement. It was truly impressive, the way his face metamorphosed from the slightly worn martyred expression to startled shock. Although, it didn't help his appearance any - Justin had very little time for an individual who couldn't work out the intended purpose of a comb, it didn't reflect well on their ability to cope with more intellectual tasks, like tying shoelaces and talking at the same time. Harry's expression of dumbfounded surprise was mirrored by Ron, while Hermione was staring at them, eyes narrowed.

"Zacharias Smith put you up to this, didn't he?" she accused, pointing a finger at Zacharias, who was busy catching up on his sleep. Susan elbowed him sharply in the ribs and he started awake, rubbing at his eyes and frowing in bewilderment at all the stares in his direction.

"What'd I miss?" he asked innocently. Hermione's stare reached laser-intensity.

"The Incredibly Stupid Triad reckons that you're the reason why we're quitting," Ernie explained off-hand. "Rather then the fact that we're sick of Potter's histrionics. And the lack of respect toward the Badger." Harry spluttered at this. "Oh, stop it. We all heard you last meeting. You implied that we were air-heads who need a saviour such as yourself to rescue us from our dufferness."

"But what about uniting the houses?" Hermione demanded. "You heard the song last year, if we don't unite the houses, then Hogwarts will fall. Do you want to be known as the people who betrayed Hogwarts? And remember that sheet of paper you signed last year? You agreed to remain members of the DA." Justin snorted.

"Get your facts straight, Granger," he drawled from his chair. "Firstly, I count three houses, soon to be two, involved in your little club. Last time I checked, there were four houses, and the Slytherins won't want to be associated with anything to do with Gryffindor leadership - or lack thereof. So, if you want to unite the houses, you need a different figurehead. And we all know that Potter's the figurehead and you're the one driving this, so don't even bother denying it. Also, that sheet of paper? Nice spell by the way. Probably one of the best we've seen. However, slight problem. Check the names." Hermione rummaged through her bag, triumphantly pulling out a battered piece of parchment. "For the jury," Justin asked mockingly. "Please read out the spelling of my last name." Hermione's eyes scanned down the list, finally coming to the deliberately difficult to read scrawls of the Hufflepuffs' names. Her eyes widened as she realised what they had done.

"You mispelt your names?" she blurted out. The Hufflepuffs smirked and nodded. "Deliberately?"

"Of course," Susan spoke up. "Like we're going to bind ourselves to a contract before knowing precisely what the details are. By the way, I have a sneaking suspicion that casting such a spell as the one on that sheet is actually illegal." The room filled with hushed murmurs. "Didn't you lot know? She put a spell on the paper that basically made sure that if you betrayed the DA, there would be ramifications. Without our permission, I may add. Which, unless I'm greatly mistaken, is a violation of the Magical Non-Interference Act of 1789, section 5.3." She smiled sweetly as Hermione bristled at the accusation. 

"You sure?" Ron asked nervously. Susan nodded. "How?"

"Her aunt's the Head of Magical Law Enforcement," Hannah supplied. "You tend to pick up that sort of information. Especially if you ask." At the Trio's outraged stares, she continued. "What? We could ask her, because we were not bound by your contract. However, we did not betray the DA. We did not name names, or events. We gave her a hypothetical situation and she responded. Hypothetical means made up, by the way," she explained to Harry, smiling condescendingly at him. "We all know that you have problems with big words, dear. There's no need to hide it."

"So you've been coming to these meetings under false pretences? We were all bound by the contract," Hermione began slowly. 

"Except for you three," Zacharias pointed out. "I was last to sign, remember? Your signatures weren't on it."

"We're hardly going to betray our own group!" Ron said indignantly.

"Never said you would," Zacharias replied placidly. "Just pointing out a logical flaw in Hermione's argument. By all means, continue." He waved a lazy hand, insolence practically oozing from the movement. Justin watched in interest as Harry became incensed by the action and resolved to remind Zacharias that while his resemblence to Draco Malfoy stopped at the fact that they both had blond hair, he doubted that Harry would be so discerning when furious. It would not do for a Badger to be killed, especially if that Badger was killed in place of a degenerate like Malfoy. Justin didn't particularly like Malfoy, his rather elitist views on blood-purity became somewhat grating after a while. Especially if you happen to be the very thing that he is arguing against.

"Anyway," Hermione continued, cutting through the rising babble. "Why? Obviously you lot have been involved since day one with this little scheme of yours, but _why_? I honestly thought you were interested." Zacharias raised his hand.

"That'd be my fault," he replied complacently. Ron looked triumphant at this admission of guilt. "No, no, don't look so pleased with yourself yet, Weasley. You see, it's your fault. Or rather, you and Harry both were the catalyst." Harry looked blank, Ron looked puzzled and Hermione's face was horrified as she started to catch onto where Zacharias was leading the conversation. "Do you remember the first meeting, where we signed the parchment that Hermione's been bandying around? I do." Hermione was whispering urgently to Ron, who was starting to share her expression of apprehension. Justin glanced around the group in confusion, a feeling that heightened when he noticed that Hannah and Ernie had very calm expressions on their faces.

"What do you know that I don't?" he hissed to them. Hannah grinned.

"Audiographic memory," she whispered back, nodding at Zacharias. "Gets him in trouble all the time, because he can repeat back anything if he's heard it. His visual memory's shot to hell though." Justin nodded. That explained why whenever there was an inter-House debating competition between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, the rules always stated that Zacharias could not be used on either team. He had wondered about that, although he had suspected that it might be that Zacharias would deck the other team if Hufflepuff lost.

" 'You mean Dumbledore believes _him_.' 'Who are _you_?' " Zacharias recited, his voice sounding eerily like Ron's when he reached his dialogue. "You see?" Zacharias continued, his voice resuming it's normal qualities. "I asked quite a reasonable question. You expected us to believe that Voldemort was back entirely based on you saying so. No proof, verbal or otherwise provided. We were expected to believe you because you were Harry Potter, the Messiah of the Wizarding World. Sorry to break it to you, but you've been listening to your own propaganda a little too much. So, of course I questioned you. I could have blindly followed the Daily Prophet's line, but I kept an open mind. And you jumped down my throat. Shall I continue, or do you get the idea?"

"But how?" Hermione demanded. "I know that you didn't talk to anyone else during the meeting, so how did you organise it?"

"He didn't," Hannah interjected. "I did. He's one of _ours_, and you bullied him because he had the guts to ask what everyone wanted to know. One of our housemates _died_, and Potter knew how. Of course we wanted to know how, you stupid bitch, because no-one told us anything! Had it have been a Gryffindor that died, Dumbledore would have told us all about it, but because Cedric Diggory was a Hufflepuff, a lowly, unimportant Hufflepuff, we weren't told a thing. So we pretended to be nice, we groveled to you, in order to find out how. And when Zach demanded the truth, something that we as Cedric's housemates were entitled to, he was threatened. So of course we refused to sign the sheet of paper with our correct names. You Gryffindors use us, abuse us and throw us to the side, and we've had enough!" Hannah burst into tears and Susan hugged her, glaring balefully at the Trio. Hermione looked startled at the vehemence of Hannah's tirade, while Harry looked indignant.

"You didn't have a right to know," he began, only to be silenced by Justin rising from his chair, staring at him levelly.

"Cedric Diggory was Hannah's cousin on her mother's side," he commented quietly. "I would suggest that you retract that statement. Now. Before we get angry, and you don't want us to get angry." Harry rolled his eyes. "Have you ever seen a cornered badger? No? Piece of advice, badgers fight with everything they have, and they never give up. Do you think we, the followers of the badger, will not do the same?" He turned to the others. "Come on guys, we're leaving." Susan and Hannah stood up together, Susan still staring the Trio down. Zacharias looked slightly put out for a moment before standing up himself and walking with Susan and Hannah over to the door. Justin gave Harry a death glare before making his own way to the door. 

"You're going to need us," Ernie pointed out as he picked his way through the bewildered Ravenclaws. "Like you're going to need the Slytherins. So if you want us, you're going to have to convince us, like you'll have to convince them. And right now, it's not happening." This said, he forced his way the remaining few metres to the door, where all five Hufflepuffs walked out of the room together. They closed the door on the rising noise of people discussing their rather dramatic departure.

"Hannah, that smackdown was awesome!" Ernie pronounced. "A truly great day in Badger history, the day where Hannah Abbott turned around and told Hermione Granger that she was a cow." Hannah smiled watery through her tears. "And Justin! Where did that attitude come from? Been taking lessons from Zach?"

"All natural," Justin replied. "They just got me so _angry_, you know? And it just happened." He shrugged. "You know how it is." Zacharias grinned.

"All the time, mate," he replied. "Although that was some serious attitude there. Can I worship at your feet, oh snarky one?" He went on his knees and fell into a positon of prayer. "Oh snark Lord who art in Hogwarts, Justin be thy name." Justin kicked him.

"Get up, you stupid bastard," he told Zacharias, who was nursing his arm and glaring at him. "I've got charms homework to do and I'm not dodging you to do it." Zacharias sighed and stood up. 

"No one appreciates me," he complained, pouting. Hannah snorted and hit him. "Hey, that's abuse of power, that is. Abusing the position of a prefect! Oh, why are there never any professors around when this happens?"

"Because they all have lives to lead rather then follow us around?" Susan replied dryly. "You know, we aren't exactly the centre of the universe, you know?" Ernie looked sheepish at this. "What?"

"I can prove that we are. Or rather, that I am," he explained. "Of course, there's some dodgy maths involved, like dividing one by zero, but you get that. It's not like we use maths anyway." Justin frowned at that.

"Yes we do," he pointed out. "Astronomy, remember?" Ernie waved a dismissive hand.

"Like anyone pays any attention in that class anyway. Except for Hannah, but she doesn't count." Hannah hit him. "Ow! Why'd you do that for?" Hannah rolled her eyes. "But anyway," Ernie continued, changing the topic awkwardly. "That was such an awesome meeting. We gave the Gryffs a smackdown. Go us!"

"Is there a Magical Non-Interference Act of ...1785?" Justin asked in curiousity. He didn't remember the DA being mentioned to Madam Bones at all, and he didn't think that Susan would have memorised the various acts of the Magical government on the off-chance that she could use them to do a smackdown on Hermione Granger. Susan shook her head, impish grin on her face.

"Nope. But if you sound convincing enough, Gryffs will believe it. They always do. So now Granger's going to be desperately searching for that particular act, while we can claim the top positions in our various classes. Am I not devious or what?" Justin was impressed. That was a devious plan worthy of a Slytherin - an intelligent Slytherin that is. He doubted that anyone in that house, with the possible exception of Blaise Zabini, was bright enough to come up with it.

The sheer amount of inbreeding that took place within that little secret society otherwise known as a House of Hogwarts drastically lowered the collective IQ, but the sentiment remained the same. Judging by the question that Ernie just asked, Justin wasn't the only one who had noticed this. "No, the Hat never thought about putting me in Slytherin," Susan replied, laughing. "I'm a Bones, we're all Hufflepuffs. We have the system sorted out, you see. The Hat just asked me my name and said 'Sod this, get into Hufflepuff, you wretched girl. And no funny business like what Edgar did.' I still don't know what my uncle did to make himself so noteworthy, my aunt won't tell me. I think it's something embarrassing though. It always is."

"I wouldn't be getting too excited about it just yet," Zacharias began slowly. "I'm not entirely sure you guys are aware of how powerful the DA is in our year." Justin whirled around to face him, eyes wide in surprise. Zacharias, advising caution? This being the same person who was famous for never considering the consequences of his actions, it was a very strange situation, one that Justin never thought he would be in. "Oh, stop looking at me like that," Zacharias snapped. "Didn't you guys ever wonder about why my notes were always covered in ink, or where my books kept disappearing to, or _why_ I got into a fight with the Ravenclaw captain? You have to worry when you look forward to the classes we share with the Slytherins, because it means that nothing malicious is going to happen with you in mind. They're rather unfocused with their vengeance, the Slytherins. The Ravens and the Gryffs aren't. So, we don't give them a target. We stick together in our classes, we don't split up and we keep our heads down in class."

"Why?" Ernie asked. "I doubt that the professors would let them get away with outright bullying." Zacharias snorted.

"They did last year," he pointed out. "So why risk it? Alright, we're covered for the basics, obviously. I'm right for my electives, how 'bout everyone else?" Justin frowned as he struggled to remember who was in his Care of Magical Creatures and Wizarding Ethics classes. For WE, he had Ernie, but was there anyone in Care? No, he didn't think so.

"I'm screwed for Care," Justin offered. "Unless one of us has been hiding from me all this time..." The others shook their heads. "Bugger," Justin commented with feeling. "So, Zach, what should I expect?" Zach shrugged.

"Depends," he replied. "Who's the professor and who's in the class?" Justin scowled as he tried to remember. His face fell as he recalled various faces.

"Hagrid, and Potter and Weasley are in it. I am so dead." The others gave him sympathetic looks, not that they would be any use when Justin was being beaten up under the benevolent eye of Professor Hagrid. He didn't like his chances of surviving a year with a biased professor like Hagrid. Not to mention, Hagrid was _huge_. Justin harboured a short person's apprehensive skeptism toward individuals who happened to be a foot and a half taller than he was. For he knew, Hagrid could step on him and keep walking, completely oblivious to the Hufflepuff that he had just ground into paste. Justin suspected that he was being overly paranoid, but it never hurt. "Remind me again, why did I choose to do that class?"

"Dragons," Susan replied succintly. Justin grinned. He'd always liked dragons, and was thrilled to find out that they were real. The others had been telling him that they were just big, dumb lizards with wings and the ability to breathe fire, but he wasn't interested. Dragons were awe-inspiring, and he wasn't listening to anyone who told him otherwise. "You know they won't let you ever see a dragon," Susan continued. "Not even Hagrid's that stupid." Justin shrugged. He didn't do the class to study dragons at Hogwarts. He had heard that they were looking for dragon-tamers over in Albania, and he couldn't think of a cooler job than that.

"Anyway," Ernie interjected. "So we keep together as a group, let each other know where we're going if we're going off by ourselves and we don't keep secrets from each other. If one of us is bullied, then they tell the others, so that we can act on it. Any objections?" Everyone shook their heads.

"Just out of curiousity," Susan began. "How did Justin know about the spell?" Justin shook his head.

"Ernie told me," he explained. Susan turned a quizzical look at Ernie, who shrugged and looked vaguely sheepish.

"Witch-sight," he offered larconically. "All of us have it. I'm practically blind in comparison to my sister, but that spell was the only charmed thing in the Hogs Head, so it stood out." Justin felt vaguely cheated at this admission. He had always wondered how Ernie knew about the curse practice sessions he used to have in third and fourth years, and to find out that it was a family talent was rather disheartening. It seemed that if you were muggle-born, you didn't get any cool talents, and he said as much.

"I don't have any cool talents either," Zacharias offered and Ernie snorted.

"Zach, your parents were muggle-born. You're practically muggle-born yourself," Susan pointed out. Zacharias shrugged. "And I don't have any cool talents either and nor does Hannah, at least we don't know of any. Ernie's just lucky."

"Hardly lucky," Ernie retorted. "D'you know how often I was told 'Control, Ernest, control'? Too many times, let me assure you. Remind me again, why did my great to the eighth grandparent decide to marry and impregnate a spirit? Surely that's what we term a 'bloody stupid idea'? I bet he didn't think about how much of a pain it would be, being able to see spells at a magic school. Stupid bastard."

"But I thought you were pureblood?" Zacharias asked. "How can you be that if your great to the nth grandmother's not even human?"

"It's whether you have any muggle blood in you or not," Hannah explained. "Personally I think it's rather silly, given that according to my geneology I'm apparently part veela and another part vampire. It's an attempt to keep magic in the family, I suppose, because some of the more...adamant purebloods were becoming worried at the propagation of muggle-borns with talents greater than their own." Justin had to ask the question. He had to.

"How do you impregnate a spirit?" he blurted out. "Cause they're like disembodied and stuff." The look Ernie gave him spoke volumes. "Oh. Yuck. That's so weird. And Malfoy says that my family's screwed up. I bet his mother's also his cousin." Ernie, who had looked vaguely affronted at the suggestion that his family were strange, brightened up at the suggestion of Malfoy incest. "I mean, look at him!" Justin continued. "You cannot look at that face and tell me that his parents weren't related."

"That's not very nice," Hannah scolded, an effect ruined by her attempting to stifle her giggles. "Oh yes, Justin. Have you done your Charms homework yet?" Justin could feel his face betray him. "No? It's due _tomorrow_!" Hannah informed him, her voice becoming shrill. She grabbed him around the bicep and started to frog-march him to the library. Justin glanced beseechingly over his shoulder and had the others not been laughing so hard, they might have helped him out. Might. Justin thought bitter, bitter thoughts about the treachery of friends intent on making sure you passed sixth year. He ignored the obvious argument that if he failed sixth year then he would have to repeat it, and quite frankly, Justin found the younger Hufflepuffs rather juvenile. They just couldn't understand the importance of a good bitch session.

***

The intimidation campaign began the next morning, in Care of Magical Creatures, to be precise. For Justin, anyway. He imagined that the others were receiving the same abuse in their various classes. Okay, maybe they weren't. Susan and Hannah were under the watchful eye of Professor Vector, the Muggle Studies students were rather torpid in the mornings and Zacharias would probably deck anyone who insulted him. However, if you happened to be one of the shortest boys in the year, you didn't quite have that action to fall back on. So he gritted his teeth and kept his mouth shut as the Gryffindors behind him whispered about the 'traitor' and giggled. He didn't want to know what they were laughing about. Frequent glances at his watch told him what he already knew, that this class was taking forever. It was a scary experience indeed to look forward to sharing Charms with the Slytherins. Justin had thought he would never see the day where he waited anxiously to see the smirking and generally unpleasant face of Draco Malfoy. He didn't think he should voice this thought, however. Gryffindors were remarkably touchy about their rivalry between themselves and the Slytherins, and any comment that compared them unfavourably with the Snakes would probably result in him being drowned in the lake. A prospect that looked very tempting when Thomas 'accidently' released his Harpy. The first warning Justin got was a shriek from the air. He whipped around, wand in his hand only to fall by his side as he saw the possibly rabid, insane bird-woman _thing_ coming toward him. He did the best thing he could think of, which was to jump in the lake. Hagrid turned around from Brown at the splash, looked as if he were about to tell Justin off, glanced up and tackled the Harpy to the ground. Justin knelt in the shallows, watching warily in case Hagrid lost the battle and Justin had to swim for it. He'd take his chances with the Giant Squid rather then take on the Harpy.

Brown looked up from her Harpy vacantly and stared at the wrestling Hagrid and Harpy. Justin was starting to suspect that Hagrid was enjoying the experience all too much. He immediately repressed that thought and contemplated the more important problem of how he was going to explain his drenched clothing to Professor Flitwick. He doubted saying 'I jumped in the lake to save myself from a Gryffindor assassination attempt' would go over all that well. While the Slytherins would probably believe him, Flitwick would look at him skeptically, as it was a rather far-fetched story. Pity it was true. He bit back a bitter comment as Brown wandered over to the Harpy and started cooing to it. It was amazing how she managed to calm it down. Now all she had to do was get Hagrid out of his animal-induced lust and Justin could climb out of the lake, disappear into the Quidditch shed, steal Ryan Summerby's robes and life would be grand. It's not as if Ryan would notice if Justin nicked off with his robes, as he would return them before the next practice. Maybe. It depended on whether he decided to hold pre-dawn practices for the Quidditch team. There was no way to adequately describe a sleep-deprived and cranky Zacharias. Justin generally just ducked and avoided him wherever possible.

Hagrid finally got off of the Harpy and Justin breathed a sigh of relief. Staring levelly at the Gryffindors, who were busy laughing behind their hands, he crawled out of the lake and gave Hagrid a pleading look. It didn't work, and Justin bit back a savage remark about Hagrid's ancestory being the obvious cause for his lack of intelligence and pushed himself to his feet. His robes dripped over his shoes, and while Justin's mother had water-proofed them at the beginning of the year, he doubted that they would survive a dunking in the lake unscathed. Pity really. Now he would have to explain to his parents that he needed a new pair of shoes only two weeks into term. That would be an interesting conversation, that's for sure. Raising his chin and pushing his shoulders back, he resolutely ignored the fact that his robes were sopping wet and clinging to him and instead presented the image of Hufflepuff pride. Or attempted to. It's kind of hard to present a respectable image if you were shivering. Not to mention that Brown was looking at him speculatively. It was time to get out of here. Now. He contemplated the relative merits of informing Hagrid of his intended location, but decided against it. If Hagrid couldn't work out where the lone Hufflepuff in the class was, then realistically he shouldn't be a professor.

Trudging wetly over to the Quidditch shed, he pulled his robes over his head and balled them up under his arm. His dress shirt clung to his skin and he could hear Brown sigh. Justin started moving faster, in case she jumped up and ran after him. Or just jumped him. Quite frankly, he couldn't imagine a worse fate then having Lavender 'I'm quite possibly the ditziest person on the planet and Pansy Parkinson is included in this assessment' Brown after him. He might not survive.

He breathed a heart-felt sigh of relief when he closed the Quidditch shed behind him and locked it. He cast a few locking charms on it too, just in case. And then booby-trapped it. You could never tell with these Gryffindors. With all that fool-hardy bravery and reckless courage, Brown might just overcome the first few spells. Justin made a mental note to ask Zacharias for a warding rune or six. He was incredibly grateful for Summerby's habit of leaving a set of robes behind, even if they were a little big for him. Justin scowled at the injustice of it all. He was smaller then the _Seeker_, that should say it all. If only he could catch a small shiny gold ball, then maybe his life would have meaning. Justin snorted at that thought. Like his self-worth was dependent on his ability to catch the Snitch. He'd rather catch the metaphorical Snitch. Although, at this stage of his life, he'd probably settle for having Susan actually acknowledge him as someone other than one of the Hufflepuff guys.

He wadded up his wet and sopping uniform and dumped it in the basket with all the muddy, sweat soaked and quite disgusting practice clothes (it was a good day when Summerby became captain, as Diggory used to hold practices in school uniform, which meant that they _stunk_) and started to unpick the spells around the door. Some of them had ossified, making his task more difficult than he had initially imagined, and he finally broke through to the door by the time Care of Magical Creatures was finished. He unlatched the door and dashed off to his charm class.

***

The campaign became more overt as the DA members became more confident in their abilities, much to the dismay of the Hufflepuffs, who were resolutely ignoring it. Finally, it reached a head when Hannah came into the common room in tears. The boys prised the culprit out of her and Zacharias disappeared for a short time. He returned under the watchful eye of Professor Sprout, his arm wrenched behind his back to ensure he didn't break free. Judging by his expression, Justin doubted that Zacharias even felt the pain, although he was confident that he would later.

"I punched Boot, and I'm not sorry, and I'll do it again if he ever calls Hannah a 'filthy little traitor' and trips her up!" he announced, drawing the attention of the entire common room, which was his aim. Professor Sprout sighed, pulled his arm further up and, ignoring his wince, hauled him into her office, shutting the door firmly behind her. The others shared fearful glances. Normally if Professor Sprout were going to chastise one of them, she would keep the door open, reasoning that the humiliation factor involved with having your entire house hearing it was infinitely worse than anything she could ever say. For her to shut the door though...

Zacharias staggered out of the office ten minutes later and made his way to the dorm. The group exchanged Looks, culminating in Ernie and Justin pushing themselves off of the sofa and going after Zacharias. Opening the door to the common room, they flinched back as a book flew out the door. It was closely followed by a shoe.

"It's just us," Justin called. "Stop throwing stuff at us, else you're getting hexed." The barrage of projectiles stopped and the boys tentatively stuck their heads into the room. When no books, shoes or other hard objects were lobbed at them, they entered the room.

"It's not _fair_!" Zacharias protested. Ernie and Justin exchanged looks. It would be wonderful if Zacharias could begin his stories at the beginning, rather then jumping in part-way and expecting them to understand. Sensing that no-one had the faintest idea what he was talking about, Zacharias started to explain. "The professors have been speaking to Professor Sprout. Or, I suspect, the Gryffindor prefects and Harry Potter told Dumbledore about our walk-out. But that's not important. What is, is that Professor Sprout has informed us that we are not to involve anyone else in these little...'escapades' she called them. I tried telling her that we just wanted our own study session, but she wasn't all that interested. In essence gentlemen, we're on our own from now on. Professor Sprout said that while she can turn a blind eye to what happens in the dorms, once outside, we have to not draw attention to ourselves. Which means, while we don't have to be members of the DA, we have to grit our teeth, take the abuse and bitch about them here. 'Cause that's all we can get."

Justin was a little surprised by this. He didn't expect their study group to cause this much controversy. While yes, insulting the Unholy Trio wasn't the brightest of ideas, he hardly expected it to have become the rallying point for a united smear campaign. The name 'Badger Resistance' was becoming more apt. It wasn't fair that the Badgers had to go underground in order to continue what they were doing, but it had happened, and they would have to accept it. What else could they do?


	3. Chapter 3

Amelia Bones raced up the stairs to her office, tripping over the narrow steps and catching herself on the handrail. Stumbling over the last few steps, she staggered into her office, shutting the door firmly and invoking the locking charms. Not that they would be of any use, given what she knew. There were some very talented witches and wizards out there that could overload her protections in a matter of minutes and most of them had dubious loyalties at best.

Rummaging through her desk drawer, she pulled out a tarnished silver chain from which a teardrop of what appeared to be obsidian was suspended. Wrapping the chain around her hand, she sliced the thumb on her spare hand open and smeared the pendant with her blood. As it changed from black to dark-red she whispered a spell, breathing over the pendant. This done, she pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill and hurriedly wrote a short passage. Casting a drying spell on the ink, she wrapped the necklace with the parchment, tying it together with a piece of string. She then tied it to the leg of the Ministry owl that took up residence in her office (it wasn't supposed to, as there were centralised places for owls, but this owl had just arrived one day and never left).

"To Susan, Susan Bones," she told it firmly. "She's a sixth-year Hufflepuff, long red hair, wears it in a plait. You can't miss her. Deliver it to her and stay at Hogwarts. Don't come back." The owl tilted it's head on one side, reinforcing Amelia's opinion that, experts' opinions to the contrary, owls could understand human speech. At the moment, the owl seemed to want to know why it wasn't to return. "Look, you have to go! They'll be here soon, and I need you gone before that. Susan needs this!" If the owl had possessed the appropriate body structure, it would have shrugged dismissively. Instead, it spread it's wings and took flight, aiming for the window. Amelia watched it go, worrying at her bottom lip as it crossed the Ministry wards and entered neutral air space. She had done all she could.

"I'm sorry to involve you in this, Susan," she spoke aloud. She knew that Susan would never hear it, but it made her feel better, so she continued. "But I can offer you some protection." She raised her wand and moved it in the pattern that she had prayed she would never have to use. "Schutzdacts Susan Evelyn Bones." She could feel goosebumps on her skin as the spell took effect, slipping through her magical barriers and ingraining itself into her blood. 

She was seated behind her desk, calmly working through the work for that morning when the protections were breached. Raising her head, she stared levelly at the individuals who blocked her view. She noted the glazed eyes of victims of the Imperius curse and mentally sighed. She couldn't even leave a clue to the identity of her kidnappers.

"You know something that the Dark Lord needs, Madam Bones," the one on the left croaked. She nodded. "Will you come quietly?" Amelia kept herself relaxed as she brought her wand into position under the desk. She might lose, but she'd be damned if she didn't take someone down with her. It was unfortunate that she would have to hex her own employees, but it was all for the greater good.

"Reducto," she offered in way of response, blowing the man on the left into the wall. He crumpled to the ground, stunned. The other one, seemingly controlled by a more adept Dark Wizard, was already part-way through a curse. Amelia ducked as it flew toward her, and it shattered the mug resting on the table. She found herself thinking that it was a great pity that the mug was broken, as Edgar's eldest had made it. It was this moment of introspection that cost her. The wizard fired a Stupefy at her, and she didn't move quickly enough. She was caught in the corona of the spell and was knocked unconscious immediately. The wizard kicked her thoughtfully, nodding in satisfaction when she didn't protest. He then walked over to where his colleague was lying, pulling out a wand a placing it in his hand. He watched dispassionately as the man disappeared. He had failed to subdue the woman, and he would be dealt with accordingly.

Pulling out a pocket watch that seemed to be missing a cover, he knelt down and grabbed Amelia's lax hand. Holding it toward the watch, the two disappeared, leaving the wreckage of her office behind.

***

"Expecto Patronum," Justin pronounced firmly, his eyes screwed shut. Every time he had had his eyes open, his patronus had not appeared, so maybe he was jinxing it by looking. Although, judging by the giggles, he not only had failed to conjure the patronus, but looked pretty stupid too. He opened his eyes to the mirthful expressions of his housemates. "Oh thank you ever so much," he commented sarcastically. "You know I'll never get this charm if you keep doing that."

"You're hardly going to get the charm to work if your eyes're shut," Hannah pointed out. "And a _happy_ memory, Justin. Surely you've got one, you're an only child! You were probably spoiled throughout your entire childhood!" Justin wisely kept quiet the thought he had about how all the spoilt kids were in Slytherin, as Hannah might throw something at him, quite possibly herself, and maul him with her fingernails. He still had the scars from Hannah's stress-out over the OWLs.

"Expecto Patronum," Susan interjected. There was silence. Then - 

"That's so cool!" Ernie pronounced, staring at the silvery dog that prowled around her feet momentarily before disappearing. Susan looked quite pleased with herself, as well she might. She was the first of all of them to get the charm to work after all. "Alright, who's next? J's been - and failed, Susan's done it, Hannah..." Hannah glanced up from her Herbology homework and shook her head, gesturing at the half-finished essay on her lap. "Will attempt it last," Ernie temporised. "Expecto Patronum!" A white whisp of smoke shot out of his wand and Ernie made a face. Justin looked on in envy. He couldn't even get that. "It _should_ have worked," Ernie mused. "I could see it partially work, but then it stopped."

"You're concentrating too much on being able to see it, and not enough on actually doing it," Susan offered. "So your attention's being divided, and the spell doesn't work. What?" she asked at everyone's incredulous expressions. "I like charms, they sort of flow from your wand."

"My turn," Zacharias commented. "Expecto Patronum." He looked disheartened by the result. The others fought back giggles. 

"I'm sure that size doesn't matter," Susan offered finally. "Even if it's a ten centimetre rat. With only half an ear." The patronus-rat looked vaguely affronted at the suggestion that it was not magnificent as it disappeared. Zacharias scowled at it.

"I think I'd prefer being captured by Dementors," he said darkly. "There is no way I'm showing anyone else that thing." The others exchanged knowing glances. "What?" he demanded.

"You say that _now_," Ernie pointed out. "But when you're staring down a dementor, I doubt you'd give a damn as to what your patronus is, as you'll be more concerned with actually casting the bloody thing, like everyone else."

"He was exaggerating," Hannah reminded Ernie. "As always. Expecto Patronum." She too only got a whisp of smoke. "That's so not fair. How come Susan and Zach can do it, and I can't?"

"Because I can't do disarming spells?" Zacharias offered. The others winced at the memory. While it had turned out that the Weasley twins had interfered with Zacharias during the DA sessions, the fact remained that he still couldn't do them. Hannah had begged him to stop after he had summoned her homework, Susan's textbooks and their chests were making manful efforts to lift off of the ground and leap into his hands as well. Justin, the target of the spell, remained unscathed, a fact he was quite grateful for. At the time, Ernie had suggested that Zacharias simply tackle the wizard or witch in question and beat them up with his wand, as he would probably achieve the same effect. Zacharias obliged, tackling Ernie to the floor and hitting him with his wand. Ernie had squawked in protest and Justin, taking this opportunity to move out of the way, had dived out the door and was halfway down the stairs before the other two realised that he had gone. It was so worth it, seeing them race down the stairs, convinced that their time was up.

"Well, there is that," Hannah conceded. "Have you gotten any better at them, by the way?" The boys shook their heads in unison. To their sorrow, Zacharias would persist in practicing the Disarming spell at the most inopportune moments, like when they had just cleaned the room. Professor Sprout was remarkably unsympathetic to their plight, frequently deducting points for the state of their room, despite their protests that it wasn't their fault.

"They won't let me do them anymore," Zacharias complained, pouting. "All I did was do it to Justin while he was doing his Herbology homework." Ernie and Justin exchanged glances. From what they remembered, that rather innocent comment didn't quite encompass the total destruction caused. It had taken _weeks_ to repair the desk, and Justin was still picking out splinters to this day. Although, they did see the bright side of it all. The desk that Zacharias had destroyed had somehow become animate during the years it had spent in Hogwarts, and had a bad habit of gnawing on their hands when they were asleep. Needless to say, they were quietly relieved when they woke up the day after it had been destroyed and found all of their fingers intact.

"Yes, well, we like the furniture," Ernie commented dismissively. "Except for that bloody table. That had to go." Justin nodded solemnly. He had almost lost a thumb to it last year. "And we should probably get back, you know? Snape's a sadist, he really is." The recent Potions homework of memorising the ingredients of six potions was hitting them hard, but none more than Ernie, who was determined to emulate his sister in topping Potions. The others had told him that this task was impossible, given that Draco Malfoy practically performed sexual favours in order for the position, but Ernie was determined to do it. Unfortunately for the other two boys, they had to put up with Ernie muttering plants and other assorted ingredients at odd times, generally when they were trying to do their own homework for their respective classes. Justin had received some very strange looks when he handed in his Care of Magical Creatures report with the phrase 'distill the essence of witch-hazel until it is clear green.' Then again, that might be due to Hagrid's inability to read books that didn't have copious amounts of glossy pictures.

"Fine, fine, abandon us here," Hannah commented. "See if we care." She grinned as she glanced up from her textbook (she had resumed studying when the boys had begun to bicker), and laughed at their expressions. "It's called sarcasm, boys."

"We know _that_," Justin retorted. "We share a dorm with Ernie. If we didn't have a passing familiarity with sarcasm before we came to Hogwarts, we do now." Picking himself off the floor - he had never had the courage to sit on the beds after the first meeting, a qualm that neither Ernie or Zacharias seemed to share, he brushed himself off, dragged his bookbag off the floor, wondered what on earth he had in there to make it so heavy and was halfway out the door before the other two had realised what was going on.

"Oi, wait up you stupid bastard!" Zacharias called. Justin winced as his voice echoed throughout the corridor, causing many of the doors to open and curious heads to stick out. He could see the Head Girl, Enid Henderson, glare disapprovingly at him and he tried to redirect her attention toward Ernie and Zacharias, but she wasn't having any of it. She shook her head in disapproval and disappeared.

"Now, look what you've done," Justin hissed to Zacharias as he drew level. "We've got the head girl on our case now." Zacharias shrugged nonchalantly. Justin hit him. Zacharias hit him back. Justin hit Zacharias back. This was looking to be a remarkably silly game, so Ernie calmly reminded them that they had a minute to get out of the wing before they were forcibly removed. As intended, this inspired them to move very quickly out of the section, with Ernie walking self-importantly behind them.

***

It was obvious that the first Quidditch match of the year was looming, because not only was Zacharias rarely in the room when Justin woke up, but he spent most of his day wandering aimlessly into furniture and looking at it in bewilderment. After almost breaking his neck going down a flight of stairs, the others decided that it would be wise to drug him into unconsciousness and then tell Ryan Summerby where to stick his before-dawn Quidditch practices. Unfortunately, as many plans go, it didn't work out all that well.

"You lot want me to do _what_?" Summerby demanded when they cornered him in the common room. "I can't stop the practices! We've got a game to win in two weeks, and I'll be damned if we lose to Gryffindor this time!" Justin wasn't particularly impressed by his annoyance, and judging by the expressions of the others, neither were they.

"This may have escaped your attention, but Gryffindor has Harry Potter. The only way you're going to beat them is to off him," Ernie explained kindly. "While he's a bit of a tool, he's a damned good Seeker. The others may be really bad, but when you've got a hundred and fifty points already guaranteed, you can afford to be nonchalant about it all. We can't. We're going to get our arses kicked if you don't play smart, and right now working them into the ground isn't smart." Summerby looked as if he was going to protest this, when a series of loud thumps were heard from the staircase. As one, they all turned around and sighed in exasperation, except for Summerby, who was staring, eyes wide in shock, at the sight that confronted him.

"Ernie, I told you to give him more," Susan commented finally, staring at the sprawled Zacharias. "Now we're going to have to haul him back up the stairs."

"How?" Ernie asked. Susan looked at him curiously, which was to be expected. Justin thought it was a relatively simple task, dragging someone who was a good foot taller than him up the stairs. "How did he manage to get to the stairs anyway?" The others shrugged. Zacharias had been doing weird stuff like that for ages, it wasn't as if this was anything new. "Don't tell me, another potion that doesn't work properly on him. How many is this now?"

"About six different types," Hannah supplied. "Don't know how many different potions it is though." Summerby, who had been opening and closing his mouth soundlessly thoughout the entire discussion, finally regained the power of speech.

"You _drug_ your housemate?" he asked incredulously. 

"Regularly," Ernie replied. Summerby looked outraged, possibly because of all of the school rules that such an action would break. "Hey, you only see him at practice. We see him everyday. Trust me, you'd be drugging him too, if only to save our sanity when he goes into one of his diatribes."

"We think of it as training," Justin offered. "So when Voldemort captures him for indulging his Gryffindor tendencies, otherwise known as being bloody stupid, veritaserum doesn't work on him. Unfortunately, we can't find any veritaserum to test this with, but it's only a matter of time until Ernie works it out." He grinned at the mental image of them asking Zacharias all of those questions that he would never answer in his right mind, and actually getting answers.

"You _drugged my Chaser_?" Summerby continued, his voice spiraling. Justin flinched. This wasn't going to be pretty. 

"'m n't y's," Zacharias commented thickly. Justin kicked him thoughtfully and he shut up. Summerby was almost apoplectic at that.

"Until the season's over, I own you, Smith," he retorted. "So, shut up." The other sixth years scowled at that. The only people who were allowed to do that were them. 

"That's not very nice," Hannah scolded. "He hasn't had eight hours of sleep in a week because of you. He stabbed himself by accident yesterday in Potions, and it took him positively _ages_ to realise it. Professor Snape almost had a fit when he found out." Justin shot Hannah an incredulous look. He wouldn't have described Professor's rant about jocks overworking themselves as almost having a fit, as he thought that Snape had crossed that line when he had hauled Zacharias upright and shaken him. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were outraged at this and slightly disturbed at Zacharias' lack of reaction. It was understandable that they drugged him, or so Justin reasoned. That was just unnerving.

"That would explain why Snape was gunning for me during Potions this morning," Summerby conceded. "Something about overworking the junior members on the team. I _tried_ telling him that Smith's hardly a junior member, but he was having none of it." He looked down thoughtfully. "I'm going to assume that at least one of you can use the mobilicorpus spell, 'cause I've got Charms in five, and Flitwick's going over what we need to know for the NEWTS." He turned on his heel and walked briskly out of the common room. Justin could hear Susan mutter something that bore a startling resemblence to 'I should have thought of that!'

"Mobilicorpus," Ernie incanted, and Zacharias levitated limply to hovering just above where his feet would normally be. Justin shuddered and turned away. For some reason, he could never see anyone under this spell and not shudder, probably because of a negligent teenaged babysitter when he was younger. His parents swore up and down that he had had screaming nightmares about zombies until his eighth birthday, and Justin believed them. Judging from the periodic thumps and muttered swearing, Ernie was making his way up the stairs and tripping over objects on the way up. Susan and Hannah looked intrigued at this, because their stairs were completely clear of any objects. They turned questioning looks at Justin, who just shrugged. They had to maintain some mystique.

***

The long-awaited Quidditch match finally arrived, and Justin decided not to go. It was a foregone conclusion that Harry Potter was going to catch the Snitch, and he really couldn't be bothered hanging around and waiting for the inevitable Gryffindor win. Also, he had five feet of parchment to write about Emeric the Evil's campaign across Eastern Europe. He'd tried arguing that it wasn't fair to have to write an assignment that was longer than he was tall, but either Professor Binns was completely incapable of taking a joke, or he didn't pay enough attention to reality. Justin suspected the latter. So, he was frantically trying to fill the last foot of parchment with his unfortunately small and neat handwriting when the house returned.

The other four sixth years threw themselves onto the chairs closest to Justin, and he was strangely excited to note that Susan was closest to him. Unfortunately, Zacharias was on her other side, and Justin thought he was too close to Susan. His fists clenched involuntarily, and he consciously relaxed them. Surely Susan would have better taste than _Zacharias_? He was the walking example that the Hat could have problems deciding to sort people into either Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. He glanced up mildly at Ernie's martyred sigh.

"It's two o'clock, we obviously lost and Zach has a black eye and is slightly sunburnt. Good match?" he asked diffidently. Ernie made a face, Hannah sighed, Susan started to replait her hair and Zacharias opened his mouth. Justin prepared for the tirade.

"It was dreadful, Madam Hooch hates us and I want to die," Zacharias began dramatically. Justin breathed a sigh of relief. Normally they were longer than that.

"No-one has ever died from sunburn," he replied dryly. "Normally they die because their annoyed dorm-mate pushes them off the roof. Cut the histrionics and tell me what happened." Zacharias looked vaguely startled at this uncharacteristic display of temper. Ernie had opened his mouth - possibly in preparation of telling Justin off, when Susan glanced at the books that were resting on the desk and elbowed him sharply in the ribs. Ernie turned an outraged expression on her and she mouthed 'History of Magic'. Ernie nodded in understanding. Justin's dislike for History of Magic was rather well known. He would comment on a regular basis that he saw no real point for a class where the professor had probably lived through all of the exciting stuff for the express purpose of making it boring. Hannah glanced at the books and visibly started to panic. Ernie, seeing this, passed her one of the books, studiously ignoring Justin's glare. Hannah accepted it, flashed both Ernie and Justin a quick apologetic grin and opened the book to a seemingly random page. 

"The girl Weasley, she's a decent chaser," Susan began. "That's her elbow in Zach's face, so's you know. Her brother was almost incoherent after Zach elbowed her in the ribs in return. We tried explaining to him after the match that they were both going for the Quaffle and that he should be thrilled that Zach was treating his sister as just another opponent, but he was intent on finding Zach and beating him senseless."

"So you ran away?" Justin asked. The others nodded, Zacharias quite reluctantly. "Good move. He's got about three hundred brothers, he would have wiped the floor with Zach. No, no, don't give me that outraged look, Zach," Justin continued, as Zacharias had a quite outraged expression on his face. "You have, sorry, I mean had, a sister. That's it. You can probably count the number of fights you've had that were serious on one hand."

"Summerby never had a chance," Ernie chimed in. "Potter had the Snitch caught within half an hour. It was damned freaky, let me tell you. He just shot up into the air and caught it, completely without looking. Admittedly, he was busy checking out our keeper, but you get that." Justin grinned. Everyone checked out Melissa Atkins at least once. Right up until her girlfriend found out about it and beat you into a pulp. Millicent Bullstrode was one scary girl, although Melissa seemed to like her. It was only a matter of time though until Potter was found in a disused corridor, babbling about the Mack truck that had run him over. Justin hoped he'd use the usual 'I tripped going down a flight of stairs' excuse, he had a galleon resting on the possibility of Millicent's next victim using that excuse. He wasn't all that concerned about Potter, after all, if he was stupid enough to risk it, his problem.

"Their new chasers were all right," Zacharias added morosely. "I'm going to have to watch them next year." Justin shot him a questioning look, frowning slightly. "Oh, didn't I mention. I'm the captain-trainee for the year. Joy." Zacharias made a face. "You want to be Seeker next year?" he asked hopefully. "'Cause if you do, we can start training you now, and then we're set for next year." Justin shook his head ferverntly. He could barely tolerate watching Quidditch, he didn't want to play it. Zacharias' opinions about how interesting it was to play aside (and Justin suspected that he was lying his arse off just to find a Seeker), Justin couldn't really see the point of dodging lead balls and players intent on decapitating you just so you could catch a small metal ball.

A tiny boy tapped Susan hesitantly on the shoulder and she whipped her head around, her partially-loose hair flying everywhere. Zacharias winced as part of it whipped his face and Justin found himself mesmerised by it. Right up until he was kicked sharply by Hannah. She shook her head in amusement at his startled expression and mouthed 'Ask her out.' Justin shook his head. Hannah's amused expression intensified to the point that she almost looked demonic. She tapped Ernie on the shoulder and whispered something in his ear. Ernie shot Justin a speculative expression. This wasn't going to be good. It never was when both prefects were in on something.

"What's that?" Zacharias asked curiously at the letter in Susan's hand. When she didn't answer, he reached up a hand and snatched it out of her hands. Susan glared down at him and took the letter out of his hands, rapping him sharply on the nose as she did so. Zacharias winced.

"That's _my_ mail," she scolded. "Naughty dog." Zacharias rubbed his nose gingerly and glared at her.

"With that nose, he's more like a bird than a dog," Ernie offered and received a pillow to the face for his efforts. Susan laughed and opened the envelope. A pendant fell out into her hand. Justin watched in apprehensive dread as her face paled dramatically. Ernie whipped his head around and stared wide-eyed at the pendant, going slightly green. Hannah had her hands over her mouth and Zacharias yanked the pendant away from Susan. He stared in dismay as her eyes rolled up and she collapsed into his lap.

"Zach, put it down!" Ernie commanded sharply. It fell from Zacharias' nerveless fingers onto the ground with a loud clatter and he stared down at Susan.

"I didn't mean to do that," he breathed. "I didn't _know_." Justin ignored him as he pulled Susan off Zacharias' lap and shook her slightly. He bit his bottom lip when she didn't react.

"That was blood magic," Ernie's voice was shaking. "Someone just tried to kill Susan." Justin stopped shaking Susan and turned to look at Ernie. "We need to tell someone. Susan could have died. Why didn't the wards work?" Ernie's voice was almost childlike in it's shock. Hannah looked close to joining him in uselessness.

"We need to get her to the infirmary," Zacharias broke in. "Now." He swung Susan up into his arms, muttered something pungnant and staggered toward the door. Justin leapt to his feet, grabbed Ernie and Hannah by their arms and dragged them out of the common room.

***

"Stop hovering, boy! Out! Out and wait outside!" Madam Pomfrey snapped. Justin, who, truth be told, was hovering around her shoulder, jumped back in surprise and pleaded with her with his eyes. Her eyes narrowed and she waved an imperious hand. Justin slinked outside where the other three were waiting.

"I don't understand," Zacharias was saying plaintively. "Why would someone try to kill Susan? She's just a sixth year Hufflepuff, we aren't a threat to anyone." Ernie snorted, having evidently regained his equilibrium.

"They weren't trying to kill Susan Bones, the sixth year Hufflepuff student. They were obviously trying to kill the last magical blood relative of Amelia Bones. Honestly, Zach, don't you pay attention to politics?" Judging by Zacharias' shamed face, he didn't. Justin frowned slightly. He really wasn't all that interested in either magical or Muggle politics, but this sounded pretty serious. He fell into the closest chair, nodded to Hannah and propped his head in his hands.

"Haven't you read the Daily Prophet lately?" Ernie demanded. "Madam Bones was presiding over the trial of Lucius Malfoy and successfully pushed for him to get the Dementor's Kiss. That's why Malfoy was out of class all of last week, he was being named the master of the Malfoy name. Not that it's a particularly good name to be the heir to," the heir to the Macmillan name added. Justin snorted. It was dead funny when Ernie put on the pureblood act, mainly because they knew it was an act. Most of the time, Ernie didn't really give a damn who your parents were, he was more concerned with who you were. Most purebloods didn't measure up. It was odd the way that worked out. "They were sending Amelia a message: Convict any more of us, and we'll kill all of your family. Susan's a bargaining chip."

"Are you sure it was the Dark Arts?" Hannah asked nervously. Ernie nodded confidently.

"I recognise blood magic when I see it. It's really gross if you use witchsight," he explained. "Rest assured, someone's after Susan. We have to make sure they don't get her. She's a Hufflepuff, no-one messes with us."

"Suitably dramatic," Zacharias interjected. "Needs a bit of work on the graphic imagery." Ernie punched him on the upper arm. Zacharias returned the favour. This looked to be a very silly game. Hannah clipped Ernie with her wand and he glared at her.

"You're a _prefect_," she hissed. "Act like one." Ernie rubbed his arm and looked affronted. Hannah narrowed her eyes and Ernie straightened his spine. Justin made an effort to look innocent and virtuous. Zacharias seemed to make a concerted effort to disappear.

It was to this scene that Madam Pomfrey opened the door to the infirmary and hauled them inside.

"What happened before Miss Bones fainted, Master Finch-Fletchley?" she demanded. Ernie opened his mouth to speak and she silenced him with a look. "I asked Master Finch-Fletchley, not you, Master Macmillan." Ernie closed his mouth with a snap and Justin quickly relayed the tale. Madam Pomfrey looked thoughtful for a moment. "Do you have the pendant with you now?" An exchange of looks, then four shaken heads. "Can I ask you to get...good heavens, boy!" Zacharias, who had raised his head slightly, quickly ducked it back down again. "What have you done to yourself?"

"Ginny Weasley's elbow," Hannah explained. "And Ernie and I'll go and get the pendant." Justin shot her a betrayed look. "Oh, and Justin." It was Zacharias' turn for the hurt look. "Oh, stop it, Zach. For all you know, you've broken your nose and haven't realised it yet."

"I doubt it," Zacharias muttered sullenly as Madam Pomfrey chased him into the infirmary proper. "I'm considering myself abandoned here, you know." The three shrugged. Trust Zacharias to make a three act play out of it.


	4. Chapter 4

It being a Monday morning, the sixth year Hufflepuffs were attempting to eat breakfast. Unfortunately for them, so was everyone else. While it may not seem it, over several hundred people eating in one central location at one time can be quite noisy, and that's if they're not doing anything else apart from eating. If the fact that they are, mostly, adolescents is also considered, then it is unreasonable to assume that they will not talk at all. With this in mind, most conversations were held by shouting them over the intermittent lulls in noise. Justin, on the other hand, was a practical sort, so he had a notebook and a ballpoint pen that he used in a manner most high school graduates would be familiar with - passing notes. He scribbled a quick note and passed the notebook onto Ernie, who didn't notice, being much more intent on fuming over his potions mark. Justin prodded Ernie on the arm with his pen and was quite affronted when Ernie didn't respond. This called for drastic action. Justin palmed a butter knife and jabbed Ernie in the ribs with it. Ernie whipped his head around, eyes wide in outrage. Justin shrugged and handed him the notepad, nodding at Susan as he did so. Ernie read the message, rolled his eyes and passed it on.

This achieved, Justin resumed the difficult task of eating his bacon. It was a more difficult task than it sounded - Hermione Granger's campaign for House-Elf rights was starting to gain momentum and as a result tasks normally performed efficiently by the House Elves were done half-heartedly, if at all. While a social conscience was a laudable thing, Justin felt that inflicting it upon everyone else was a little sanctimonious. He wasn't entirely sure what the word meant, but he thought it sounded cool, and that was all that mattered. He was interrupted from his contemplation of what the word _could_ mean (his current favourite was 'spawn of Satan, intent on waging war on the psyches of innocent magical children') when Ernie jabbed him in the ribs with a butter knife. Justin made a face at him and accepted the notepad.

_What's wrong, Susie?_ he'd written. Susan, with uncharacteristic messiness had written back _I'll tell you all at the next meeting._. Justin frowned at that, it sounded rather serious. Almost portentous in its way (or at least he would have thought of it that way had he known what the word meant), and he wasn't sure if he liked it. He liked life being simple and easy to understand. While it could be argued that forming a splinter group of Dumbledore's Army in direct defiance of Harry Potter, the messiah of the Wizarding world, wasn't keeping life simple, Justin was resolutely ignoring that. He was never good at logic first thing in the morning.

The hubbub died down to a dull roar as Professor Dumbledore stood, his hands held in such a manner to quell any outspokenness from the more audacious students. Justin was secretly in awe of Albus Dumbledore, even if he was an ex-Gryffindor. It took a special talent to present a facade of innocent bewilderment while still being a complete and utter manipulative bastard. Justin had no illusions about Harry Potter's eventual fate, no one did really. Harry Potter, the messiah of the wizarding world, was a sacrificial lamb, one that Justin planned on being far, far away from when the time of sacrifice came around. While some might call that attitude cowardice, those people were in Gryffindor and therefore will be first in line when the Death Eaters raided.

"After their first class, the sixth years will all be required to return to their respective common rooms," was all Dumbledore said before sitting down. Various seventh years exchanged knowing glances, Professor Sprout looked quite excited and Professor Snape looked mortified. Justin frowned, then shrugged. Whatever it was that was so important that he had to miss Charms, he'd find out in a few hours anyway, so why bother worrying about it?

***

The five students slouched into the common room and took up residence in the 'favoured chairs' - the ones closest to the fire, with the new upholstery and padding. It was a rare occasion that they could claim enough chairs for all five of them. Normally they managed to snag one or two and the others would either sit on the arms, the lap of the lucky sod actually in the chair or stand. Hannah, ever the studious one, pulled out a Charms textbook and started reading, her forehead wrinkling as she read a complicated passage.

"You know what this is about?" Susan asked Ernie. Ernie shrugged. "Well, what good are you as prefect then?" Ernie shrugged again.

"None whatsoever," he replied agreeably. "But given a choice between me, Justin and Zacharias, for some reason they chose me." Zacharias snorted. Ernie gave him a Look.

"We all know that you like being prefect, no need to pretend you don't," Justin explained. "It gives you a reason to be a pompous mongrel, and you're ever in need of a reason for that." Ernie scowled for a minute, then shrugged. It was true after all. Ernie did have a talent for being a little officious at times, or so he said. Personally, Justin thought he had a penchant for going overboard when it came to be official, but he didn't want to say anything. It would make the dorm rather uncomfortable.

Professor Sprout dashed into the common room, two large wooden boxes held under her arms. She put them down on the floor, straightened and smiled wryly at the quintet, who looked at her in bemusement.

"Do you remember all the things the mandrakes we had a couple of years back did?" she began obliquely. There were four nods and one sulky stare. "You didn't miss a great deal, Finch-Fletchley," Professor Sprout informed him. Justin contemplated briefly the possible reasons why all the teachers kept referring to them by their last names, then decided it wasn't all that important and tuned back into what Professor Sprout was saying.

"And then I had to put them into separate areas, because they kept trying to get into each others' pots. They were not very happy about this and kept biting me, but it had to be done so that we could reverse the petrification process on victims such as Finch-Fletchley here." Justin wondered idly where this was going, then started to unravel his sleeve. A shocked gasp from Susan caught his attention and he glanced up in curiousity.

"She just said..." Susan breathed, eyes wide in shock. Justin listened for a second and almost echoed Susan's shocked gasp as the import of Professor Sprout's oblique statement of "Now, like the mandrakes, you too might have had feelings," caught up with him.

"This is a sex ed talk?" Justin blurted out incredulously. "Why didn't you say as much?" Professor Sprout glanced down at her watch and murmured, "Ten minutes, a new record." She then glanced up and smiled innocently. The Badgers cowered in their overly-stuffed chairs. Every time she smiled like that, there was always a traumatic experience on the horizon, one so horrific that it would take years of psychiatric help to repress. This was no exception.

Professor Sprout passed around fluffy earmuffs. Then opened the boxes.

Two mandrakes sprung out of their respective boxes and landed on top of one another. They started to do something that Justin remembered vividly from when he accidentally walked in on his parents a few years back - an experience he had hoped never to repeat. In regards to his parents, they bought a new lock for the door that very day. As for the mandrakes - 

"Oh, dear God, what are they _doing_?" Zacharias breathed in horror. "That one's eating the other one, look!" Justin, who had resolutely closed his eyes when he realised what was going on, opened them then closed them with a squeak. He could hear Susan whispering something hurriedly to Hannah and Ernie ask, voice shaking, what was going on and what _were_ those mandrakes doing?

Over all this, Professor Sprout explained in gleeful tones that the mandrakes were hermaphrodites and as such, were perfect for demonstrating all of the possible combinations for copulation. As the mandrakes writhed and grunted, seemingly oblivious to their horrified audience, Professor Sprout informed the Badgers that this was the preferred way to conceive children, as the male pregnancy spell had the unfortunate side effect of not only causing massive tears in the space-time continuum that would eventually destroy the universe due to it's lack of logic but generally resulted in Squibs. Given that there were a lot more Muggles in the world than wizards, creating more of them wasn't all that desirable. Justin opened his eyes tentatively as there was a lull in the mandrake-moans, only to close them again as one rolled onto it's stomach. He knew where this one was going.

"Now, we have the preferred position for male-male copulation," Professor Sprout explained. Justin refused to listen. Considering that he didn't think it was possible for him to be more straight if he _tried_, he didn't think he needed to know this. Judging from Zacharias' repeated "Oh God, oh God," in horrified tones, it was doubtful that Zacharias needed to know it either. He could hear Hannah and Susan giggle nervously and risked opening his eyes to see what they were laughing at. He caught their gaze and frowned. In response, they nodded to Ernie, who was looking very green, eyes wide and staring as the mandrakes finished their act.

"And finally, female-female copulation," Professor Sprout announced. Normally this would have had Justin interested, if the collection of magazines under his bed were any indication. However, this..._perversion_ didn't interest him in the slightest. There had to be a law against inflicting sights like this on impressionable minds. There had to be. Either that, or Hogwarts would be paying for his psychiatric bills in later life, because there was no way this wasn't going to leave mental scars.

Finally, Professor Sprout broke the mandrakes apart (both of which looked quite content to continue their love-fest for another few hours at the very least) and put them into their separate boxes once more, much to the relief of the students, most of which were curled into foetal balls, muttering something about "Make it stop."

"So, any questions?" she asked brightly. There was a heavy, ponderous silence as five traumatised adolescents struggled to recall how to structure coherent sentences. Finally, Ernie asked the question most of them were thinking.

"Does too much sex turn you into a mandrake?" This broke the nice, insulating layer of shock that protected the others from turning into gibbering wrecks.

"If you've given that talk to every student that graduates, how is it that children are still being born?" This from Hannah, who was staring wide eyed at the shaking boxes.

"If I promise never to think about it ever again, will you never show us that demonstration?" Justin found himself asking. In retrospect, it seemed a reasonable question.

"Are the other houses getting the same talk?" Susan demanded. "I bet the Gryffindors aren't and I know for a fact that if Snape can even say the word 'Sex', the Slytherins would probably die laughing. As for Flitwick...yeah."

"Is it over?" Zacharias asked faintly. "I think I'm going to have nightmares about that."

Justin felt himself tuning out as Professor Sprout explained that no, having sex did not turn you into a mandrake, that she assumed that people managed to overcome the social conditioning she had given the graduating Hufflepuffs in order to populate the species, that she didn't know what the other houses were being told and yes, Smith, it's over and you can open your eyes now. He was increasingly grateful for the rather flustered and embarrassed talk that his father had given him after the Incident. In comparison to this debacle, it was the nadir of cool, analytical discussion.

When she finally left, taking the sanity-destroying mandrakes with her, there was a shocked silence as they struggled to comprehend what they had just seen.

"I now see why they never teach us about contraceptive spells," Justin offered finally. "After that, I doubt any of us are ever going to even consider it. Ever." There was a lot of fervent nodding and in some cases, rocking in respective chairs. 

***

"Finally, the Daily Prophet!" Ernie grumbled as his owl swooped toward him, paper clutched in it's legs. "Bit of a cheek, calling it the _Daily_ Prophet if I only ever get it once in a blue moon. Should call it the 'Irregularly Delivered Prophet'. Or the 'Heavily Scrutinised by Dumbledore Prophet'." The others rolled their eyes at this. It had lost its impact after the first hundred iterations and was now growing tiresome. Ernie bestowed upon them a patented Macmillan Stare of Doom and resumed opening the paper. The others resumed eating their breakfast.

"Oh," Ernie commented inanely, staring at the front page. Justin craned his head and felt his jaw drop at the headline that screamed out at him. 'Department Head Missing' was written in huge letters, with a subheading of 'Amelia Bones presumed kidnapped'. Zacharias, who was sitting on the other side of Ernie, took the paper out of his hands and quickly read the article, ignoring the protests from Ernie and demands from Susan and Hannah as to what was going on. After reading it, Zacharias raised an eyebrow and commented, "I don't think they need a hold on her after all." Hannah paled dramatically and Susan frowned in frustration.

"What do you mean, Zacharias Smith?" she asked dangerously, eyes narrowing. "Judging by everyone's expressions, I'm the only one that doesn't know, so tell me. Now. Or else." Justin started looking around for somewhere to hide. When Susan, the possessor of possibly the worst temper Justin had ever seen, and Zacharias, who had been awarded the dubious title of being the most stubborn, annoying Hufflepuff some time ago, clashed, the results were not pretty. Last time the fallout had almost destroyed their corner in the common room and resulted in all five of them receiving detentions. This was shaping up to be infinitely worse.

"So you mean to tell me that you thought someone had tried to _kill me!_!" Susan hissed at Zacharias, who was unsuccessfully attempting to stare her down. "And didn't think to _tell_ me of this asinine idea, so I could have corrected you! Who else was involved in this...disaster?" Zacharias folded his arms and glared at her. "Oh, don't give me that look. You know very well I can snap you in half if I wanted to." Justin had to agree with her on this one. "So, what was the great and devious plan, huh? You were going to protect me from _what_, precisely? Death Eaters? I'm hardly going to be kidnapped by them. I've got nothing they want, nothing they'd be interested in, and your argument of me being a bargaining chip is a crock. I could have told you that the pendant was from Auntie Amelia, but _noooooo_, you had to be a complete and utter dickhead, didn't you?"

"Susie?" Hannah interjected. "This time it's not Zach's fault." Zacharias bristled at the qualifier. "We didn't know what was happening, and we know that your Aunt's really important, especially after that trial she was involved in with Lucius Malfoy. So, it made sense."

"How do you know it's from your aunt?" Ernie demanded. "It could be a fake!" Susan rolled her eyes at this.

"I do know my aunt's handwriting, you know. And there's certain phrases that she only uses when writing to me." She glared at Ernie. "I'm well aware of her position, we've got security measures so that she knows it's me writing to her and vice versa. Honestly, you're so _paranoid_ at times!" Justin had to agree on that one. It wasn't fun, having to prove every time you entered the dorm that you weren't using polyjuice potion. In his more annoyed moments, Justin cursed Professor Snape and his lesson plan that meant that Ernie found out about that sort of magic. It just wasn't cool and made his life more difficult.

"It made sense!" Ernie protested. "We didn't know any of this, all we knew was that you received some pendanty thing and then blacked out and were unconscious for two days! And Hannah reckons you're having these weird dreams, we're entitled to be a little worried!" Justin's head whipped around at the mention of weird dreams and he stared at Susan, who was looking reasonably sheepish, as well she might.

"I didn't think they were all that important...you were worried about me?" Susan blurted out, covering her mouth with her hand as her brain caught up with her mouth. Ernie sighed heavily.

"Yes, we were worried, you stupid Irish tart. Of course we were!"

"Oh fine, be that way, you English bastard," Susan replied good-naturedly. "I tell you, one day you'll be out of Ireland for good."

"Yes, Judgment Day," Zach chimed in and was glared at by both Ernie and Susan for his effort. "What?"

"Bloody Welsh, never know when to keep their heads in," Ernie and Susan retorted in unison. Hannah and Justin exchanged glances over Ernie's head and shook their heads ruefully. Only in Hufflepuff could an initially serious discussion about the Dark Arts degenerate into good-natured mocking of each housemate's country of origin. It was a good thing that no-one in their year was from Scotland, else they'd have to put up with the constant ribbing about how they were really English and kept their accents to be perverted and so forth. In Justin's opinion, James I really screwed over Scotland when he took on that name (and the English crown with it), but it happened years ago, so why be all obsessed about it now?

"Fascinating as this all is," Hannah drawled over the top of the heated discussion between the more volatile elements of their house about whether the English really were the raping, horrible jerks that Susan and Zacharias insisted that they were (Ernie was putting up a good fight even while being outnumbered so grievously), "I've got Charms. As do...fancy that! All you lot too! So, unless you _want_ Flitwick on our collective arses about tardiness, I'd suggest that we leave right about...now."

This innocent reminder got them all moving much faster than a conventional threat because, to be entirely frank, they were quite scared of someone who was only three feet tall and could take on Snape in a duel. And draw. While Snape generally disdained using his wand, Flitwick did not. As such, the Hufflepuffs were ever prudent to arrive to classes on time. It would be rather difficult to explain to their head of house otherwise.

***

"So," Justin asked Susan innocently at the next Badger Resistance meeting from his perch on the desk. "What was the deal with the pendant, what's going on and why wouldn't you tell us anything earlier?" Susan looked sheepish from her position on the bed and muttered something into her lap. Justin raised an eyebrow and asked her to repeat what she had said.

"I said," she replied loudly, "That I felt pretty stupid every time I tried to say something about it, so I didn't. Except now I feel even more stupid. Sucks how that works, huh?" she looked around the group in mute appeal. They stared back with varying degrees of sympathy but didn't say anything. "Oh fine," she huffed. "My aunt sent me the pendant, I don't know why. I think it has something to do with what happened to her afterward, but maybe it was just an early birthday present."

"Your family's in the habit of giving each other artifacts of the Dark Arts as _birthday presents_?" Ernie broke in. "I always knew you lot were weird, but that takes the cake." Susan snorted at this.

"This from the person who has a spirit as a relative," she retorted. "And no, we're not. But I don't think it's quite as malicious as you make out. And I got this note with it too, but it doesn't make any sense. All it says is 'Snatch the apple from Moneta' and that makes no sense. Apart from the usual catch-phrases between the two of us that identify who we are. I don't know what the pendant means, but I'm going to keep wearing it all the same. Auntie Amelia wouldn't hurt me, my mum'd kill her."

"Isn't your mother a muggle?" Ernie asked in interest. Susan nodded. "How would she hurt Madam Bones?" Susan giggled.

"Trust me, my mum'd kick my aunt six ways to Sunday," Susan explained. "Just because she can't use magic doesn't mean that she's completely useless. How else would she keep me in line?" Justin nodded at this. Mrs. Bones had to be one formidable woman to keep Susan relatively well behaved.

"What's this about strange dreams though?" Zacharias interjected. Susan stared levelly at him, attempting to cow him. Zacharias refused to be intimidated and stared back. It looked to be a long, boring meeting, so Justin moved to interrupt. To his surprise, Hannah had beaten him.

"Honestly, you two are dreadful!" she commented. Both Susan and Zacharias whipped their heads around to face her. "Susan, look, just tell them about the dreams. Zach, just...I don't know. Sit in the corner and not say anything." Susan sighed heavily and Zacharias scowled. Hannah narrowed her eyes. "Do it, or by everything you hold dear, you won't be seeing the end of tonight. I'm sick to death of this." Zacharias, muttering under his breath, shifted to the nearest corner and glowered at everyone, folding his arms and generally making himself look as sulky as possible. Susan glared back at him, then broke her gaze away to stare at her feet.

"They're just, weird," Susan offered lamely. "They don't make a lot of sense. I hear footsteps, probably my own, as I walk quickly toward this shrouded thing. I don't know what it is and I reach up a hand to pull it aside. I see someone suspended in this glass capsule, eyes closed, and although he's naked, I'm not embarrassed, only horrified as I recognise him. Except I don't recognise him, not really, and then I wake up. There's different people, but it's always the same sequence of events. And it seems important, but I don't know why. The dreams only started after I got the pendant, but I don't know what my aunt is trying to tell me. It doesn't make any sense!"

"Sounds like it," Ernie commented absently. "I know I wouldn't want it." Susan said something along the lines of 'you can say _that_ again.' "But, the issue is, that you _do_ have it. And we have to find out why."

"What?" Susan blurted. "You don't have to do _that_, it's not that bad." Ernie snorted and Justin rolled his eyes.

"Susan, you're one of us," Justin explained patiently. "Of course we're going to get involved if there's something wrong. Why would you think anything else?" Susan smiled wryly at this.

"'Spose I should have known that, huh?" she replied. "Now we've got that out of the way, what's wrong with Zach's disarming spells?" There was an incoherent noise of protest from the corner. "Shut up, Zach, you don't count."

"Hey!" Zacharias blurted. "That's not fair!" Hannah levelled a stare at him and he shut his jaw with a snap and glowered silently from his exile.

"Maybe he just likes the attention?" Hannah mused, frowning slightly as she resolutely ignored the rude gestures from the corner. Ernie glared at Zacharias, mouthing 'Points' at him, which didn't seem to have much effect on the barrage of gestures. Justin, being one of two others who actually understood what Zacharias was implying with some of them was quite startled. He didn't know that Zacharias' parents, both trying to present the appearance of being upstanding wizards, would appreciate their son being fluent in offensive sign-language. Some people claimed that had they disowned their daughter when they found out that she was a Squib, like all pureblood families did, then their magical son would not have been influenced by these perverted Muggle traditions. Justin, being from the perverted Muggle traditions in question, thought this was a lot of crap. He'd once exchanged words with Malfoy about this, and to his chagrin, got beaten up by Crabbe and Goyle. When Madam Pomfrey finally released him from the infirmary, he pointed out that how was he to know that Malfoy would get offended by being called an 'inbred, degenerate snot', as it was only the truth. The others just shook their heads and handed him his homework assignments for the past few days.

"That's not cool," Ernie finally told Zacharias, staring at him balefully. "You're not the only one who knows what that means." There were a lot of bewildered stares directed at Ernie. "My sister, remember?"

"What _does_ your sister do with herself, anyway?" Hannah asked in curiousity. "The parents haven't heard of her since she graduated with the Potions prize." Ernie shrugged. 

"Stuff," he replied evasively. Hannah shot him a Look. "Seriously, that's all I know. She does stuff for someone. I don't know any more than that."

"Why not?" Justin asked eagerly, leaning forward to the point that he almost fell off the desk onto the floor. "Is she like this Unspeakable or something?"

"Noooo," Ernie replied slowly, shifting uncomfortably, looking as if he wanted nothing more than for the floor to swallow him whole. Sadly, it didn't happen. "Nothing so orthodox. She's part of a protest group."

"Part of _what_?" Susan asked in amusement, masking her grin with her hand. Ernie looked more uncomfortable.

"A protest group. Protesting against the Ministry," he mumbled, staring resolutely at the ground. "You see why I don't talk about it."

"That's pretty damn cool," Zacharias commented from his corner. "Damn the Ministry to it's self-wrought hell, I say."

"Yes, but you seem to think anarchy is good," Susan replied tartly. "And not all the Ministry's corrupt, you know. A good quarter isn't."

"The Hufflepuff quarter?" Justin asked wryly. Susan nodded. "That's a given then."

"Hang on a second," Hannah interrupted. "What happened to Zach's disarming spells?" The group shrugged. "We got off-topic again, didn't we?"

"You could say that," Justin replied.

"What about your patronus charm?" Zacharias retorted. Hannah made a dismissive gesture at him.

"We'll get that sorted next week. This disarming charm thing's been going on too long. You need to know how to disarm people, otherwise you'll be caught in a duel and be completely screwed over," Hannah explained reasonably. Zacharias scowled at this. "So, try and disarm someone. Doesn't matter which."

"Expelliarmus," Zacharias incanted half-heartedly. Unsurprisingly enough, no wand landed in his hand, although Hannah's History text almost decapitated him. Susan rolled her eyes at this paltry effort and Justin saw her attempt to hide a smirk. He started searching for somewhere to hide - she had her 'I'm going to try something very scary soon' expression that made her look vaguely demonic.

"I don't think you can disarm me," she started, staring at Zacharias. "I don't think you're good enough, Smith. You're hopeless at this. Why do you even bother, because you'll only fail? Potter was right, you're all words and no action. You're no wizard, you're just pretending!" At this, Zacharias was on his feet, eyes narrowed as his wand flew into position.

"Expelliarmus!" he yelled and Susan's wand was ripped out her grasp into his. She grinned in triumph at his now-bewildered expression. 

"You couldn't do it because you were thinking about how you were going to fail," she offered in way of explanation. "I had to get you angry enough to forget about that, and to only think about how much you wanted my wand in your hand. Or to hit me, but I think I'm faster than that. And I know you know that, so you wouldn't have hit me. See, it's all logical and neat." Justin could see Zacharias grit his teeth at this and started to stand up. Susan might be confident in Zacharias not losing his temper, but Justin wasn't. Susan waved Justin off, but he ignored that, waiting until Zacharias lost that murderous expression of his before sitting down once more.

"So," Zacharias commented finally after unclenching his hands. "What about these Patronus charms then?"

"That'll have to be next week," Ernie interjected. "You know the drill." The other two boys sighed. This was getting dreadfully repetitive.

"Oh, Justin?" Susan called as they started to leave. Justin paused on the threshold and gave her a questioning look. "Never mind," she said hurriedly. "I'll tell you later." Justin frowned at this - what was so important and why wouldn't she tell him? He asked Zacharias this as they got ready for bed and was floored by his response.

"She wants you bad," Zacharias replied sagely. "Just kiss the girl for God's sake. She doesn't bite - unless you want her to that is." He grinned wickedly at this. Ernie turned his head at this and made a face.

"After the demonstration that Professor Sprout gave us, how can you even _think_ something like that?" he asked incredulously. Zacharias made a horrified face at the reminder. Justin shuddered. He never wanted to see a demonstration like that ever again. If it was supposed to work as a psychological contraceptive, it worked brilliantly. And he thought that sexual education talks in the wizarding world would be like the ones in the Muggle world - here's a condom, you put it on your penis - stop giggling!, and it should prevent children being born. Certainly explained why there were very few teenaged pregnancies at Hogwarts - the senior students were too psychologically traumatised to even consider sex.

"Thanks for that, Ernie," Justin retorted tartly. "I'm in desperate need of an obliviate spell now, but instead I'm going to bed. Sod you lot, you can disturb each other after I'm asleep." With this, he pulled the curtains closed around his bed, ignoring the protests from the other two. It was much too late to be arguing, and Justin had an early start the next day.

***

Voices overhead, echoing in her head and vibrating the shards of metal she was sure were embedded in there.

"Come on, Amelia, what did you see? We can stop the pain if you tell us," someone - _Death Eater_ - told her soothingly. She wouldn't tell them anything even if she did know. Susan knew, but she was safe from them. Amelia took heart in that fact - Susan was safe.

"I don't know what you want to know," she answered truthfully. Damn that veritaserum potion, she raged. Damn you, Snape. Yes, I saw you. Dumbledore spoke for you, and you betray his trust like this, grovelling at the hem of the Dark Lord when poor little Harry Potter was struggling to keep sane enough to fight him. Undermined by the inside, for who would suspect the Potions Master of ever betraying them? She noticed vaguely that she was saying all of this aloud and did not care. Let them hear how Snape turned and grovelled at Dumbledore's feet. Snape didn't serve anyone but himself, let them hear. She was filled with a reckless courage - was this how a Gryffindor felt all the time? Who would have thought that a Hufflepuff could be so daring?

Slap across the face, striking already bruised flesh. A hiss in her ear, telling her to tell them what she knew, how was she overcoming the veritaserum, and who was Susan? Amelia bit down on her lip, she wouldn't tell them who Susan was, not these torturing, murderous bastards who murdered her baby brother and his family. To the Muggle Hell with them, she wouldn't tell them anything. Potion poured down her throat, burning her mouth and she spluttered. It sunk into her stomach and started to burn a hole there, corroding the lining and she tried to double over, to nurture the pain buried inside.

"No, no, Amelia," that cursed Death Eater chided, as if she were a child caught near an open window. "None of that. We can stop it, if you tell us who Susan is. Who is she? Co-worker? Superior?" Amelia bit back a laugh but answered nonetheless.

"My niece and you can't touch her!" she crowed cheerfully. "The wards are invoked, the spells spun and you can't touch her! None of you can, because we don't betray. Not us. You traitors can't touch her or any of my family, and I believe it's checkmate." She smiled horribly.

Hands on her shoulders, shaking her vigorously. Her head slammed against the stone walls, making a sickening crack. Angry, disjointed voices demanding that she tell what she saw under the Ministry, in the secret laboratories of the Department of Mysteries. It was all too funny and she had to laugh.

"I've never been down there," she informed them. "So how can I remember something that never happened?" The two Death Eaters exchanged frowns. "You two were never the brightest of your respective years were you, Macnair, Mulciber?" she taunted. "I remember you, Walden Macnair, I beat you soundly in all of our classes. Did it shame you? Obviously, I can see you're getting off on this." She smiled at the flash of embarrassment that crossed his face. This was strangely amusing - the Death Eaters didn't know what to make of a victim who refused to cower and who knew them from school. She didn't hold out much hope of surviving - too many loose ends if she did, but she could still taunt them. Childish, yes, but she didn't much care. Susan was safe, along with the knowledge. That was what was important, that Susan was safe behind the spells at Hogwarts.

"Shut up!" Macnair shouted. He turned to Mulciber. "She doesn't know anything, she managed to obliviate herself before we got there. Didn't you, Bones?" Amelia shook her head. "What do you mean, you didn't?" Mulciber raised his wand. "What are you doing?"

"You heard her, she doesn't know anything. We can't touch her niece, so let's not waste time on this. Leave her down here until we need her again. Stupefy." The world disappeared into shades of black.


End file.
